In the shadow of violence
The tale of a persecuted people
This is the story of a systematically oppressed people—the Rohingya. (TIMELINE)
Locating the Rohingya in time and space
There is no instance in the world where after decades of experience of citizenship and of exercising the rights to electing their representative to parliament an entire population becomes stateless without security to life, property and honour, except of course in Nazi Germany.
When religion is used by the military to justify their aims
The escalating displacement of millions of smallholders (mostly Buddhists) from the land was a major change as to who was to manage the land. Smallholders became refugees of a new economic ordering. Myanmar is not unique in this.
A better political economy of the Rohingya crisis
In short, while simple pecuniary motives can never be entirely discounted, particularly in Myanmar's borderlands, the political economy underpinning the current Rohingya crisis is far more complicated than is suggested in articles making a few sloppy references to megaprojects and land grabs.
Lost in conversation / Voice of the host community
Despite severe resource constraints, they have remained resolute in upholding the dignity of the refugees, sacrificing their own interests. It's time that those at the helm of the state acknowledge their contribution and ensure their voices are heeded in planning and implementing the refugee management strategy.
What do Buddhists in Bangladesh have to do with the Rohingya crisis anyway?
Unless we can remain vigilant and ensure that a politics of hate does not seep into our everyday lives and politics, there are fears that the religious sentiments of people may be exploited—and communalism fuelled—by certain quarters looking to benefit at the local and national level.
Listening to refugees—lessons learnt from the past
Mothers became concerned that their children were learning only Bengali alphabets, but what use would this be if at some point in their lives they returned to Myanmar as it was hoped that they would. We responded by adapting our system to the official Burmese alphabets as taught in schools in Myanmar.
Life (and death) of Rohingya children / No place to hide
Nearly half of the newly displaced are children. Up to 60 percent of the new arrivals are children and 30 percent are children under five years old. Seven percent are infants less one year old.
Genocide by any other name...
"The Myanmar government's failure to protect the Rohingyas makes a strong case for an intervention by the international community, either through taking measures stated in the R2P framework or by involving regional powers like China and India.” That is easier said than done.
Securing Rohingya fates with sound foreign policy
Bangladesh needs to pursue a more aggressive and concrete policy regarding Myanmar. Repatriation of the Rohingyas should remain as the focus for which a “Coalition of Willing” must be formed.
"One thing is clear—an ethnic cleansing or genocide is taking place in Myanmar"
If Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's speech is any indication, we are going in a positive direction. There is initiative, there is a roadmap, and the international actors have been roused into criticising the situation. The sufferings of eight lakh people have been brought to the forefront.
The nation and the citizen
The big challenge for us, as the Rohingya question unfolds and also as we face the challenges of rightlessness in our everyday lives, is: how do we translate the imagined into a reality, and whose dream and reality it is going to be?
Without land and citizenship
Formerly the Rohingya refugees had been mostly peasants in Myanmar, differentiated in terms of their wealth and class status. After arriving in Bangladesh, they were all levelled in terms of the common predicament of meeting basic food needs, irrespective of their earlier status and economic conditions.
Born refugee
Conceived in the wombs of women crossing the border and delivered at refugee camps, Rohingya babies are born refugees. Their future is called into question as they are stateless under Bangladesh's Citizenship Law and are not recognised as children of citizens by Myanmar.
