Editorial

Faint hopes

Over a year has passed since Myanmar’s military mounted a crackdown against the Muslim minority group

Editorial/editorial October 31, 2018

A fresh accord reached between Bangladesh and Myanmar on Oct 30 has again rekindled hope that the genocide of stateless Rohingya Muslims may have at last come to an end. That however is likely to be a premature conclusion judging from the fate of previous accords between the two neighbouring countries. Until prospects don’t improve—and that too significantly for the return of tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, the goal of resettlement in designated refugee camps will remain a distant dream. Already, Dhaka and Napiydaw have hinted at a possible November date for the return of the refugees. There’s no need perhaps to hold one’s breath though owing mainly to the existing trust deficit between the Rohingya and Myanmar government.

Over a year has passed since Myanmar’s military mounted a crackdown against the Muslim minority group and fuelled a massive crisis, sending thousands of Rohingya scurrying for shelter across the border. Dhaka has been a reluctant stakeholder in the process. Its ambivalence is not without reason nor is it without compassion: Dhaka is simply overstretched burdened by the impoverishment of its own people.

It has been rightly called ethnic cleansing because as the UN investigators have testified that Rohingya refugees are suffering horrific experiences that defy comprehension.

No breakthrough can be achieved in the crisis unless a global response is evoked. Of course this involves a global sharing of responsibilities, both in the spheres of peace-making and humanitarian assistance. Much needs to be done to alleviate the condition of the refugees and protect them from further genocide risks. Regional groupings such as Asean and Saarc must play their due role. Now is the time to join the effort to avert disaster and to give fuller expression to the principle that a refugee crisis deserves emergency handling. All hands on deck.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2018.

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