Repatriation of Rohingyas, not assimilation, is the solution
Six years have passed since seven hundred thousand persecuted Rohigya Muslims entered Bangladesh from Myanmar, but it is an irony that their repatriation to their homeland in Rakhine still remains an elusive goal.
The international community including the US that supported Bangladesh financially for hosting the huge number of the displaced population did not create enough pressure on Myanmar that could force the military junta there to give back Rogingyas their citizenship that was revoked by them through passing the Citizenship Law of 1982.
It is now clear that any effort short of giving back this citizenship plus assurance of safety of Rohingyas once they return to Myanmar, no repatriation attempt could be successful.
After six years of hosting these inhumanely oppressed people of Myanmar, Bangladesh government itself is now at the breaking point regarding their repatriation.
For Bangladesh it is a story of tremendous diplomatic failure.
A country of very limited land and other economic resources, Bangladesh cannot keep this large population – making the total close to one million with the already existing ones who had come to Bangladesh before 2017 facing similar acts of persecution – for an unlimited period of time.
Therefore, any suggestion from any quarter of the world, like the two visiting US Congressmen to Dhaka did recently, for assimilating this huge number of people is not warranted.
If the international community, particularly the US, seriously imposes sanctions, economic or otherwise, the junta would be forced to take action of repatriation in line with the wishes of the international community.
The dilly-dallying tactic of Myanmar to take back Rohingyas would come to an end.
If it is not done – and soon – the Myanmar military would come out as successful in its effort to wipe out the Rohingya population in what the UN described as “textbook ethnic cleansing”.
The rogue military in Myanmar that is supported by China on the one hand and Russia on the other cannot be persuaded by words alone.
Even the so-called democratic nation India under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi lent support to the Myanmar military during the massacre of Rohingyas in 2017.
Talking about human rights to the military junta is just futile as it quite often brutally cracks down upon its own nationals fighting for democracy, free press and human rights.
The bottom line should be loud and clear: if Myanmar cannot be compelled by the use of force — economic one to be precise — it would not give Rohingyas back their citizenship, paving the way for their safe repatriation.
The military doesn’t give a fig to the words of human rights.
