How soon is 'very soon'?

Myanmar must do more than offer verbal assurances of starting the return of the Rohingyas to their homeland "very soon". We had said in this very column yesterday that Myanmar should prove what it says by concrete actions on the ground. In fact, all its commitments so far have been belied by its barefaced use of subterfuges to delay the repatriation. And that has worked so far. Its dubious intentions have been furthermore reinforced by the official media in that country when it described the Rohingyas in Bangladesh camps, which its minister visited during his visit to Bangladesh, as internally displaced persons!

To start with, Myanmar must undertake confidence-building measures immediately. Saying that Myanmar would "try" to address the issue of citizenship, or that the returnees would be allowed to apply for citizenship, does anything but inculcate confidence in the minds of an ethnic minority whose citizenship has been very arbitrarily annulled. So there must a definitive commitment in this regard.

We have seen pictures of the Rohingya homesteads in Rakhine being totally razed to the ground and members of other communities being resettled in those areas. This has created deep but well-founded fears that they face ghettoisation on return.

The international community must bring to bear all pressure on Myanmar to deliver on its commitment and fulfil all conditions for safe return of Rohingyas and bring about a permanent solution as per Annam Commission recommendations which the military government in Naypyidaw has committed it would.

"Very soon" cannot be open-ended. Myanmar must be sincere in its international commitment if it wants to lend any face value to its words.