The unwanted

What more can be written about the plight of the Rohingya people of Myanmar? Stranded at sea and having been persecuted in Myanmar for over three decades, no one is willing to offer them a safe shelter. The 1.3 million strong population of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has been facing increased persecution since 2012 with the international community watching on as a silent spectator under the premise of allowing Myanmar to ‘democratise.’ At least 120,000 Rohingyas were rounded up into camps as a Buddhist national movement called for them to be turned out of the country. In May, the Myanmar president passed a law restricting the number of children the Rohingya can bear. The result has been that most Rohingya are now looking for a way out of the country, which has led to a dangerous international human trafficking network borne out of the sheer desperation of the Rohingya people. Over the last year, at least 90,000 Rohingya have left the country in dingy boats looking for greener pastures, but no country is willing to let them in. Neighbouring countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, have merely attempted to clamp down on their movement, but no one has promised them a new home.
The position of the Pakistani government is similar. A special relief committee of the government met on Sunday to discuss the issue and made bold statements of promising to write to the UN Security Council and Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). The situation is beyond bizarre. A population under siege is being treated as international criminals. The issue is being made into one of ‘human trafficking’ and not systematic oppression of a population. It is easy for the Pakistan government to cry foul play over the entire issue, but recent reports have confirmed that Pakistan has its own Rohingya issue with around 0.5 million of them living in Karachi. The Rohingyas claim that they have been yet to be given citizenship and that they face consistent police harassment despite being residents for at least 30 years. This is a humanitarian crisis of serious proportions and vague statements from US President Obama saying that it puts ‘Myanmar’s democracy at risk’ are insufficient. Are hundreds of thousands of lives less important than an infantile uncertain democracy? And the real question is: who is going to give the Rohingya a home? No one is ready to step in yet.