Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina floats five-point peace plan for Rohingya crisis

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has floated a five-point peace proposal at United Nations to find a permanent solution to Rohingya crisis. She called for immediate steps to end ethnic cleansing of Rohingya minority as it has deepened crisis along Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar where over 430,000 refugees fleeing violence in Rakhine State since August 2017.

Five-point proposal

• Myanmar must stop violence and practice of ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State unconditionally, immediately and forever.
• UN Secretary General should immediately send fact-finding mission to Myanmar.
• All civilians, irrespective of religion and ethnicity, must be protected in Myanmar. For this, safe zones can be created inside Myanmar under UN supervision.
• Sustainable return of all forcibly displaced Rohingyas in Bangladesh to their homes in Myanmar
• Recommendations of Kofi Annan Commission Report must be implemented immediately, unconditionally and entirely.

Background

According to UN estimates, over 450000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state into Bangladesh since August 2017 when a fresh wave of violence had erupted Myanmar’s Rakhine province. The violence had started after Rohingya militants belonging to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (also known as Harakat al-Yaqeen or Faith Movement) had attacked police posts in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state. Following this attack, Myanmar’s military had launched violent crackdown on insurgents from Muslim Rohingya population which led to mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh.

Rohingya

Rohingya is ethnic Muslim minority group, largely comprising Muslims living primarily in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state. They practice a Sufi-inflected variation of Sunni Islam. They differ from Myanmar’s dominant Buddhist groups religiously, ethnically and linguistically.
They speak Bengali dialect, as opposed to commonly spoken Burmese language in Myanmar. Myanmar considers Rohingya’s as illegal Bengali immigrants, despite fact that many they have resided in Rakhine province of Myanmar for centuries.
Myanmar government refuses to grant them citizenship status, and as a result they do not have any legal documentation, effectively making them stateless. They are also restricted from freedom of movement, state education and civil service jobs. UN has often described Rohingyas as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2017