Migration Crisis: Extermination and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Minorities in Myanmar and a Potential Threat to Stability in South and South-East Asia

Abstract

Burma became an independent state in 1948 and in 1989, the name of the country was changed from Burma to Myanmar. The nation building and the rise of nationalism in Burma had turned into identity-based conflicts. A nation wide hatred to wards Rohingyas developed during the 1970's and later, turned into a social conflict and was encouraged and backed by the military rulers. The citizenship Act of 1982, clearly secures indigenous status to each person who was a permanent resident of Arakan prior to 1825. The international media and Human Rights organizations have recognized Rohingya population of Myanmar as the world's most persecuted minority. Since the independence of Burma, Rohingyas are not being included in Burma's list of 124 official minorities. Rohingyas have been discriminated on the basis of their ethnicity and religion. They are also being deprived of their 'citizenship right' and have been denied by the Burmese rulers of their basic human, political, economic and social rights. They were forced by the majority Buddhist rulers of Burma to live a sub-human life within their country. Onslaughts on Rohingyas by the Buddhists regime have made them stateless within the state and millions became refugees. Over a million of refugees are now being camped in Bangladesh and nearly two millions of them are scattered across the globe. The latest onslaught in August 2017, forced over half a million Rohingyas to flee into Bangladesh and to worsen the refugee crisis at its present level. In this study, three research questions were raised and have been addressed with relevant documents and proofs in order to find their answers. First of all, an effort has been made to prove that the Rohingya people are the genuine citizens of Myanmar as their identity is in dispute.The second question dealt with their experiences of sufferings and plight that they have gone through the decades. They have been subjected to barbaric and heinous acts such as 'genocide' and 'ethnic cleansing operation' and being conducted by successive Myanmar regimes. The third question was about the potential threat to regional stability and peace in South and South-East Asia stemming out of this crisis. The relevant discussion highlights the depth of a possible turmoil in the region if timely measures are not taken to diffuse the crisis with utmost priority.