Recently,A drone attack on Rohingya fleeing Myanmar killed many dozens of people, including families with children, several witnesses said, describing survivors wandering between piles of bodies to identify dead and injured relatives.
-Four witnesses, activists and a diplomat described drone attacks on Monday that struck down families waiting to cross the border into neighbouring Bangladesh.
-A pregnant woman and her 2-year-old daughter were among the victims in the attack, the single deadliest known assault on civilians in Rakhine state during recent weeks of fighting between junta troops and rebels.
About Rohingya’s :
-The Rohingya, primarily Muslims, have fled ethnic conflict in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, seeking refuge in India, Bangladesh, and neighbouring countries.
-The Rohingya crisis is a humanitarian catastrophe that has drawn international attention due to its magnitude and complexity. Originating from Myanmar, the Rohingya people have faced decades of persecution and violence, leading to a mass exodus from their homeland.
–According to the United Nations, despite living in the country for generations, they have been systematically denied citizenship since 1982, rendering them stateless and without basic rights. The term “Rohingya” emerged in the 1950s as a means for the community to assert its collective identity and historical ties to the region.
–Decades of discrimination and marginalisation against the Rohingya by the Myanmar government have laid the groundwork for the crisis, the UN’s Human Rights Council said in a report.
– Restrictive citizenship laws, imposed limitations on marriage, family planning, education, and freedom of movement have compounded the community’s suffering.
–Rakhine State, where most Rohingya reside, is Myanmar’s least developed region, and a constant flashpoint in tensions between the Rohingya and other ethnic groups. The state’s capital Sittwe is located nearly 650 kilometres from Myanmar’s capital Napyidaw.
-The majority of Rohingya refugees have sought shelter in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh. The living conditions in these camps are dire, often made worse by the annual monsoon season, which brings flooding and landslides.
–Disease outbreaks and lack of access to basic necessities pose significant challenges to the well-being of Rohingya refugees.
Scenario of Rohingya refugee Crisis in India:
1. India has been receiving Rohingya refugees and allowing them to settle in the different parts of the country over the years, especially after the communal violence in the state of Rakhine in 2012.
2.In 2012, India’s external affairs Minister visited Rakhine and donated 1 million dollars for relief.
3.However, India considers the refugee crisis as an internal affair of Myanmar.
4.Since India is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Refugees, refugee status granted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the Rohingya was irrelevant to their deportation.
5.According to the Government of India, there are no refugee camps established for either Bangladeshis or Rohingyas in India and there were only schemes of assistance for Tibetan and Sri Lankan refugees.
India’s Stance on Rohingya Refugee Crisis:
1.India considers the issue as an internal affair of Myanmar.
2.India believes that ASEAN has the responsibility to resolve this crisis.
3.India does not want a conflict of interests with the new regime in Myanmar
Myanmar has a key role in India’s Look East Policy.
4.India already has several issues like poverty, unemployment etc for her own people.
5. The borders of near the north east and eastern region of India are already Porous, which leads to illegal immigration.
Monojit Majumdar writes— “The Rohingya have suffered systematic discrimination, disenfranchisement, and targeted persecution for decades and small and large groups have been coming to Bangladesh from at least the 1970s following violence in Rakhine.
Before 2017 when the Myanmar military unleashed a brutal response to alleged attacks by a group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army , waves of Rohingya had come to Bangladesh in 1978, 1992, 2012, and 2016.”