In search of an Illusive peace

My mother's family was from Mumbai. So all my relatives from her side, were essentially full fledged 'Mumbaikars' having spent their entire life in this great Metropolis. Sometimes, when I was a kid , my uncles would tell me stories of sectarian clashes of pre-independence days between Hindu and Muslim populations. How these two communities had nothing but hatred for each other? How the city was divided on religious lines? And so on. After independence, many Muslim hard liners, left for Pakistan and even though the old tensions did resurface few times in subsequent years, the feelings of enmity and divisiveness slowly disappeared. 'Mumbaikars' slowly learned how to live with neighbours from different communities and religions

I am very much reminded of this unpleasant past in Mumbai's history, when I read about the news of further flare up in the new and troubled hot spot of Southeast Asia; Rakhine state of Myanmar. I have written earlier about the situation in this state, explaining at length the implications of this strife for India. Clashes first flared up in Sittwe, which is a capital city of state of Rakhine, in June 2012 after an alleged rape and murder of a Rakhine Buddhist woman. As many as 78 people were killed in that violence, 5,000 houses burnt, and more than 75,000 people displaced. In the second round of clashes flared up again in the last two weeks of October. President of Myanmar Mr. Thein Sein has himself announced recently that 89 people were killed, 136 injured, 5,351 houses burned, and more than 32,000 people displaced.

A deceptive peace has been established since and things look outwardly normal. Yet there is much tension simmering under the surface. The clashes took place between Buddhist inhabitants of the Rakhine and a Muslim community known as Rohingya, known in Rakhine as Bengali. Most of the displaced Rohingya Muslims are now located in squalid camps in one corner of Sittwe. Te Chaung camp, for example, is overflowing with people of all ages. The official count is 18,500, but it could be more. People arrived first at this camp in month of June 2012 when Rohingya homes in Nazir quarter in Sittwe were burnt down. In October 2012, a mob of 5000 people burnt down about 800 houses in the township of Kyaukphyu. The people fled from the township and arrived at this camp by boats after travelling for 20 hours.

Located within Sittwe town, are also 4 camps such as Nazir camp, that house Rakhine Buddhists displaced in June riots. Things are comparatively better here. Each camp houses about 700-1,000 people. They live in shelters made of wood, bamboo mats and tin roofs. Each camp has a row of toilets. However inhabitants of these camps complain that almost all help is being given to Rohingya camps.

The Rakhine Buddhists and also the Government of Myanmar believe that Rohingya are citizens of Bangladesh. From their physical appearance they certainly look like their Bangladeshi neighbours. They speak a language that resembles Bengali, but a surprising number of people in the camp speak fluent Urdu also and say that they learned it from Bollywood films. Whatever may be origin of Rohingya, fact remains that they have been living in Rakhine for many generations.

United Nations and other organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières and Action Against Hunger are trying to provide help, working with security provided by the government. But, unless the basic issue is solved, there are chances that such flare ups might happen in the future too.

Another casualty of this sectarian violence has been the The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, already battered by the split caused by China, which has managed to break the unity in ASEAN ranks in presenting a joint front to it, about South China Sea policy. Half the number of ASEAN countries, such as Malaysia and Indonesia have Muslim majority, whereas Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam are Buddhists. This is making it difficult for ASEAN to take any unified decision about this problem.

There are more than 8 Hundred Thousand Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and the Government says that they are all illegal migrants from Bangladesh, which refuses to accept this theory and take them back. Unless a permanent political solution for Rohingya problem is not found quickly, a flow of Rohingya refugees might start towards India through Mizoram border, which is quite porous. This is worrisome because it may disturb the already delicate situation in Assam and other Northeastern states of India. There is also a possibility of an exodus towards Malaysia, as Bangladesh has started refusing the Rohingya refugees coming in on board of rickety boats. In Malaysia there are already more than 20,000 officially registered Rohingya Muslims.

Even the popular Myanmar leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has declined to speak out on behalf of Rohingya Muslims and has insisted that she will not use “moral leadership” to back either side in deadly communal unrest in west Myanmar. She says that “Because if people are killing one another and setting fire to one another’s houses, how are we going to come to any kind of reasonable settlement?”

Unless the Rohingya problem is solved quickly, a search for peace in south east Asia is likely to be just illusive. There is a real chance that Sectarian bloodshed in Myanmar, could radicalize minority Rohingya Muslims there, à la Afghanistan and destabilize the whole of Southeast Asia.

6^th November 2012

India trying to buy its way out of Rohingya imbroglio.

Sometimes, I come across news items in news papers, where I can make no sense out of them. Prima facie, they appear to be just incoherent and disconnected. This was exactly my reaction, when I read a news item about India donating a sum of US$ 200,000 to state administration of Myanmar's Rakhine state for the help of riot-affected people. This was something incomprehensible and puzzling that India was donating such a large amount for riot affected people in a foreign country and from a region, which does not even have common borders with India. This made me very curious and I searched. What has come out is something that is of vital concern not only for India but the entire south east Asia.

Let us first get the facts pin pointed. Rakhine state of Myanmar is a coastal state with Bay of Bengal in the west. The Arakan Mountains, which rise to 3,063 metres (10,049 ft) at Victoria Peak, separate Rakhine State from central Myanmar from the east and it has an international border in the northwest shared with the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh. It is separated from Mizoram state of India by a mountainous region known as Chin. However just along the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar the distance between Rakhine state and Mizoram is about 55 or 60 Miles only.

The entire Mizoram-Myanmar border is completely open and porous. Even According to the Indian Passport Act, Myanmarese nationals, especially Chins, are allowed to travel freely up to 40 km from the border inside Mizoram as they have many relatives on both sides of the border. But the amendments made afterwards now allow them free travel only up to 16 km inside Indian border. 

Sittwe port, situated about 265 KM south of Chittagong, is at present a small port on Myanmar coastline. The port is located near the confluence point of river Kaladan with Bay of Bengal. This river in fact rises in the Indian State of Mizoram and flows south to Sittwe. The river is navigable only upto Paletwa. With India’s ‘Look East’ policy in force, India seems to have taken charge of the situation here. An agreement was signed between India and Myanmar in April 2009 regarding development of Kaladan transport project, which also includes development of Sittwe port. The project has been awarded to an Indian company ‘Essar Projects’ and involves constructing a port at Sittwe and a jetty at Paletwa, 120 kilometers of road to be built in Myanmar from the river terminal in Paletwa to the India-Burma border in the northeast. The project will have 333 miles (539 kilometers) of waterways and 140 miles of roads. It would be completed in 36 months at the cost of about $ 75 million and is entirely financed by India. It is expected that this project would boost links between ports on India’s eastern seaboard and Sittwe in Arakan (Rakhine) State, Myanmar. From there, goods will be shipped along the Kaladan River from its confluence near Sittwe to Paletwa in Chin State and by road to India’s Mizoram State, which will provide an alternate route for transport of goods to India’s landlocked northeast. 

Rakhine state has a population of about 4 Million out of which 3 Million are mainly Buddhists, with remaining 1 Million are Muslims and are known as Rohingyas. The present Myanmar government regards Rohingyas mostly as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, even though many of their families have lived in Myanmar for generations. The military junta that ruled Myanmar over decades also treated them as foreigners. One of the main reasons for which Burmese people consider Rohingyaa as foreigners is that they very much look like their Bangladeshi counterparts across the border and also speak a Bengali dialect similar to one spoken by residents of southern Bangladesh. Even Aung San Suu Kyi, the longtime leader of Myanmar's democracy movement, has refused to make any statement about Rohingyas.

The fact of the matter is that no country now wants these people, who have been branded as foreigners by their own country. In 1978, Myanmar's army drove more than 200,000 Rohingyas into Bangladesh, out of which some 10,000 died in squalid conditions, and the rest returned to Myanmar. The campaign was repeated in 1991-1992, and again a majority returned. In 2009, five boatloads of Rohingya migrants fleeing Myanmar were intercepted by Thai authorities and then forced back to sea. In Myanmar, Rohingyas face routine discrimination, They are subjected to forced labor by the army. They must get government permission to travel outside their own villages and to marry. They are barred from having more than two children.

As a result of all this discrimination and increasing influence of the jehadi terrorist groups from middle east, there was a bloody outbreak of violence recently involving Rohingyas and ethenic Rakhine Buddhists in which dozens of civilians died. The unrest, which started with rumours that a 27 year old Buddhist woman was raped and murdered by Muslims erupted in mob violance that saw more than 2,500 homes charred and 30,000 people displaced.

An ever increasing number of Rohingyas are trying to escape by migrating to Bangladesh or Thailand. In recent weeks, Bangladeshi coast guard units are turning back boatload after boatload of refugees telling them that they are Burmese, who should go back home. It is therefore no wonder that a ever increasing steady trickle of Rohingya Muslims has started reaching the Indian border. According to official figures the number of Rohingyas in India is around 8000, but BJP leaders in the north-east are already quoting a much larger number. The Rohingyas episode found its repercussion even in western Indian city of Mumbai, when protests by local Muslims last month, claimed two lives.

Government of India, which has a big stake in Sittwe port and also desperately wants to reduce influx of Rohingyas into India, has now come up with this measure of using monetary aid to solve the problem. According to Government sources, money, which was handed over to Rakhine chief minister U Hla Maung Tin by Indian ambassador V Seshadri, at a function in capital Sittwe, is meant for refugees from both the communities - the majority Rakhine Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims and would be used for purchase of roofing sheets for 800 semi permanent buildings to be built for the victims.

India's monetary help might bring in a temporary respite, but the main issue still remains unresolved. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, already battered with Cambodia's refusal to go along with other countries about a united policy in South China Sea, is feeling uneasy and is seeking an explanation from member state Myanmar about recent ethnic violence targeting minority Rohingya group. Three of the ASEAN members, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei are Muslim majority nations and are supportive of Rohingya Muslims. This has further divided the ASEAN.

For India's northeastern states, already burdened with refugees from Bangaladesh, Rohingyas problem might turn out to be the real Sword of Damocles, unless effective steps are taken by Government of India to stop illegal migration at the Mizoram border.

6^th September 2012