Modi–Suu Kyi on Rakhine situation
Suu Kyi's denial of the persecution of the Rohingyas as "fake information" and Modi's one-sided position on the matter have shocked us. This was not the outcome of the Modi–Suu Kyi meeting that we in Bangladesh were looking forward to. In fact, given the close and friendly ties between India and Bangladesh, we were hoping that Prime Minister Modi would be able to persuade Suu Kyi to temper her country's aggressive policy on the Rohingyas with a degree of sobriety and make her desist from the hostile treatment of a minority community. Their respective positions are a total abnegation of the reality on ground.
Suu Kyi has refused totally to acknowledge the truth and instead put the blame squarely on the so-called terrorists. Does she want the world to believe that the Muslim minority group in the Rakhine State has perpetrated violence on themselves and become refugees, a good 200,000 of them, on their own volition? What benefit do they get out of it? To embarrass her, or her government? What a mendacious logic!
As for Modi, we do not take issue with him when he affirms his concerns for Myanmar. But what about Bangladesh's concern? Are we to believe that he is unaware of the plight of the Rohingyas, or the burden that Bangladesh has been bearing as a consequence of Myanmar's aggressive policy? And this is not a recent development; the Muslims in Rakhine have been undergoing persecution in their own country for a very long time, but particularly so in the last four decades. Either that, which is difficult to believe because there are 40,000 Myanmar refugees in India as of now, or Bangladesh's point of view is unacceptable to Modi.
Bilateral and mutual interest notwithstanding, such a one-sided position is stunning and totally unbecoming of a country seeking a leadership role in the world. Instead of playing a mediator role, and helping to find a way out of the situation, Modi's position will, regrettably, only give a fillip to Myanmar to continue the persecution of the Rohingyas. A dangerous prospect!
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