Alone in an ordeal

This August, the world saw completion of five years of the Rohingya influx storming into neighboring Bangladesh. Their number, today, stands to a humongous 1.2 million and they are sheltered in a seclusive zone. Sadly, Bangladesh had to bear the brunt of the refugees for no fault of it except that from the geographical point of view, it is located next to the Rakhine State of Myanmar — from where Myanmar's military pushed the refugees into its territory by use of brutal force on August 17, 2017. The influx of such a large number of Rohingyas, all Muslims, has given rise to multiple problems for Bangladesh that alone has been dealing with this ordeal for the last five years. While the international community — mainly the Islamic nations — have been giving out numerous assurances for humanitarian aids including monetary help etc., on the ground, the promised help is not forthcoming.

Turkey, under President Erdogan, had initially shown immense enthusiasm and gave assurances to help Bangladesh tide over the crisis but, unfortunately, it went slow after some time. Yet, Bangladesh is hoping that Erdogan and his state machinery will provide necessary assistance, mainly out of the feelings of Islamic fraternity. Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on her part, has been trying her best, diplomatically, to prevail upon China to use the latter's good offices to convince Myanmar to take back the refugees. Her hopes are based on "excellent" bilateral relations between China and Myanmar (especially with the military junta). However, despite Sheikh Hasina's meeting with the top political leadership during her China visit in 2019, nothing has been visible on ground which can show that China is serious on the Rohingya repatriation, notwithstanding a series of assurances and promises. Again, affluent countries like Saudi Arabia have been making hollow promises to take some Rohingyas to rehabilitate them but, so far, there has only been lip service. Now that five years have lapsed since the arrival of the Rohingyas, it is incumbent upon the global community to proactively come forward and hold Bangladesh's hand to ease the pressure on it.

Again, in the same vein, Myanmar should exhibit some humanitarian concern and start taking back the Rohingyas who are originally its own nationals. This will help them salvage the battered international image they have due to umpteen human rights' violations and persecution of liberals and pro-democracy elements in Myanmar, particularly the highhandedness exercised against Aung San Suu Kyi. So far, Myanmar has been starkly defying international bodies and even ASEAN on the Rohingya issue. The junta, with its extremely poor human rights record, will face further isolation in case it continues with its rigid and unfair stand. Some experts rightly believe that such brutality and excesses against its own nationals are unbecoming of a nation comprising largely Buddhists, and which claims to be following the Buddhist tenets.

Here, Sheikh Hasina must be credited for handling the Rohingya issue deftly and showing enough patience, compassion and resilience. Now, it is time for the international players to come on board and pressurise the Myanmar military regime to commence repatriation. Powerful actors like the US, the UK and other strong European countries that display occasional show of strength against weaker countries need to crack a whip on Myanmar to show "enough is enough". Unless strong-arm tactics or a robust posturing is displayed, Myanmar is unlikely to relent and the Rohingya problem will continue to be a matter of status quo.

While dwelling upon the five years of Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh, it is imperative to examine other related issues that the country has been made to face for no fault of its own. For instance, the socio-economic problems have spiralled to enormous proportions in the last five years in the regions of Ukhiya and Teknaf. This has shown trends of influencing the original Bangladeshi population — affecting perversely the present generation of moderate Muslims in the region. This apart, Rohingyas have to come to notice for their complicity in organised and hate crimes, causing headache to the law-and-order authorities. There has also been a surge in criminal activities perpetrated by a good number of Rohingyas, and there has been registration of nearly two thousand cases against them in the recent past for various offences including human trafficking, involvement in drugs syndicates and in forgery of passport/travel documents. This is indeed worrisome. More importantly, a top police official in Dhaka disclosed on conditions of anonymity to this writer that the biggest security challenge from the Rohingyas is the problem of religious indoctrination. Even if one per cent of the 18 crore Bangladeshi population is radicalised, it would add venom to society, leading up to a communal frenzy.

According to a Bangladeshi newspaper, it is a shame that the international community and human rights agencies have failed to hold the Myanmar military regime accountable for the atrocities they committed. Meanwhile, as laudable as Bangladesh's efforts have been to create a secure environment for the refugees, it is proving to be too large a responsibility for a developing nation. If the international community does not respond immediately to the crisis and take initiatives to ensure a secure return for the Rohingya to their country, the situation may well go out of control.

In the meantime, there are talks by the US and Japan if Rohingyas could be resettled at a third location. However, according to Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, Director of Centre for Genocide Studies at Dhaka University, third-country resettlement is not a solution at all. This will make the Myanmar junta happy because they don't want the Rohingyas to return. Whatever, five years of Rohingyas' presence on Bangladesh soil has thrown up more challenges than solutions, calling for an immediate redressal by all concerned.

The writer is a retired IPS officer, a security analyst and a former National Security Advisor to the PM of Mauritius. Views expressed are personal