For many of you wondering what is actually going on in Burma and how it all started it can be difficult understanding the situation that is currently gripping this nation and its people. we may hear in the news or see on Facebook images of murder and destruction but why is this genocide occurring?
Burma/Myanmar is a country situated in south Asia bordering Bangladesh it has a majority Buddhist population. in the province of Rankine formally Arakan the Muslim population (Rohingya)
is in majority, this province shares its borders with Bangladesh (a majority Muslim country) and it at the epicentre of this conflict.
Prior to 1785 this province was under the control of Mughal India as well as the sultanate of Bengal having Buddhist kings and importing Muslim slaves from India caused the Muslim population to rise
Muslims would be appointed in various positions of government and appointed ministry's.
Up until 1785 the Rohingya Muslims lived peacefully and were given respect as other ethnically Arakanese people were given however in 1785 the king of Burma decided to invade Arakan forcing thousands of people to flee to neighbouring Chittagong and seek protection under the British raj. the conquest resulted in thousands of people being executed and the deportation of thousands more causing the populating of arakan to drastically reduce therefore making a scarcely populated region.
As the british arrived in the late 1700's the British east Indian company slowly gained control of a region by the concept of dividing, strong religions and cultural groups in to small groups so they would fight amongst them selves creating instability and poor governance, making it
extremely effortless to gain control (divide and rule).like this in the mid 1800's the british took control over arakan and annexed it to the Bengal presidency.
The British encouraged migration to arakan for the development of its paddy fields and most of the migrants would come from neighbouring Chittagong therefore many Rohingya arrived during this period as well as many being there from much before.
WWII is what is called the boiling point in Burmese history the British had to leave the Indian peninsula and japan had just invaded Burma. the British would provide
weapons and ammunition to the Muslim rohingya to fight the Japanese as they left this in turn created a power vacuum leaving Burma with no sense of leadership.
instead of fighting the Japanese the Buddhist arkanese and Muslim Rohingya would fight between themselves as now the rohingya would be seen as a threat by Buddhists due to there
numbers and arsenal resulting in thousands of lives being lost.
After nuclear bombs being dropped by america on japan the war was ended.
this left the Muslims of arakan deciding that they would like to accede to Bangladesh (east Pakistan) but due to the the founder of Pakistan not liking the idea of interfering within another country's state of affairs this idea never materialised. after Burmese independence the rohingya would participate in politics and would be recognised as being ethnically indigenous Burmese people.
After the 1962 military coupe Muslims were kept under surveillance whilst others claiming persecution, murder, rape and forced conversions. the powerful military junta after coming to power deprived the rohingya there political rights, twenty years later they would be stripped from there citizenship leaving the rohingya stateless.
In 2010 due to international and internal pressure the military was persuaded into holding elections the result were that the leader of the opposition to military rule aung san suu kyi won and became
prime minister.
The 2012 Rakhine State riots were a series of conflicts between Rohingya Muslims who are majority in the northern Rakhine and ethnic Rakhines Buddhists who are majority in the south.Before the riots, there were widespread and strongly fears circulating among Buddhist Rakhines that they would soon become a minority in their own state.
There is evidence that the pogroms in 2012 were organised with Rakhine men who participated in the riots telling International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) that they were told by the government to defend their "race and religion", were given knives and free food and were bussed in from Sittwe to attack the Rohingyas The Burmese government denies having organised the pogroms,
but to date has never prosecuted anyone for the attacks against the Rohingyas.
as rioting erupted in the whole of burma the army had an excuse to take over the law and order situation. the army has been accused of war crimes including the burning of corpses
to cover up the evidences of genocide and been accused of ethnic cleansing by the UN.
Women raped, baby's slain, men killed, thousands of people murdered. those fleeing to Bangladesh were refused entry those fleeing to other provinces killed and many fleeing by sea would drown.
To this day the Rohingya are deprived of education, health care and basic human rights.
the government refusing to even recognise there nationality due to there religion.
Yet the international community remains silent turning a blind eye to the atrocity's taking place as this situation doesn't pose a threat to them 'its an internal problem' just a waste of money if they intervene.
Before i finish this article i will leave you with two questions:
what happened to Saddam Hussein and Hitler when he was accused of killing his own people?
and why is this situation being handled differently by the international community?
is in majority, this province shares its borders with Bangladesh (a majority Muslim country) and it at the epicentre of this conflict.
Prior to 1785 this province was under the control of Mughal India as well as the sultanate of Bengal having Buddhist kings and importing Muslim slaves from India caused the Muslim population to rise
Muslims would be appointed in various positions of government and appointed ministry's.
Up until 1785 the Rohingya Muslims lived peacefully and were given respect as other ethnically Arakanese people were given however in 1785 the king of Burma decided to invade Arakan forcing thousands of people to flee to neighbouring Chittagong and seek protection under the British raj. the conquest resulted in thousands of people being executed and the deportation of thousands more causing the populating of arakan to drastically reduce therefore making a scarcely populated region.
As the british arrived in the late 1700's the British east Indian company slowly gained control of a region by the concept of dividing, strong religions and cultural groups in to small groups so they would fight amongst them selves creating instability and poor governance, making it
extremely effortless to gain control (divide and rule).like this in the mid 1800's the british took control over arakan and annexed it to the Bengal presidency.
The British encouraged migration to arakan for the development of its paddy fields and most of the migrants would come from neighbouring Chittagong therefore many Rohingya arrived during this period as well as many being there from much before.
WWII is what is called the boiling point in Burmese history the British had to leave the Indian peninsula and japan had just invaded Burma. the British would provide
weapons and ammunition to the Muslim rohingya to fight the Japanese as they left this in turn created a power vacuum leaving Burma with no sense of leadership.
instead of fighting the Japanese the Buddhist arkanese and Muslim Rohingya would fight between themselves as now the rohingya would be seen as a threat by Buddhists due to there
numbers and arsenal resulting in thousands of lives being lost.
After nuclear bombs being dropped by america on japan the war was ended.
this left the Muslims of arakan deciding that they would like to accede to Bangladesh (east Pakistan) but due to the the founder of Pakistan not liking the idea of interfering within another country's state of affairs this idea never materialised. after Burmese independence the rohingya would participate in politics and would be recognised as being ethnically indigenous Burmese people.
After the 1962 military coupe Muslims were kept under surveillance whilst others claiming persecution, murder, rape and forced conversions. the powerful military junta after coming to power deprived the rohingya there political rights, twenty years later they would be stripped from there citizenship leaving the rohingya stateless.
In 2010 due to international and internal pressure the military was persuaded into holding elections the result were that the leader of the opposition to military rule aung san suu kyi won and became
prime minister.
The 2012 Rakhine State riots were a series of conflicts between Rohingya Muslims who are majority in the northern Rakhine and ethnic Rakhines Buddhists who are majority in the south.Before the riots, there were widespread and strongly fears circulating among Buddhist Rakhines that they would soon become a minority in their own state.
There is evidence that the pogroms in 2012 were organised with Rakhine men who participated in the riots telling International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) that they were told by the government to defend their "race and religion", were given knives and free food and were bussed in from Sittwe to attack the Rohingyas The Burmese government denies having organised the pogroms,
but to date has never prosecuted anyone for the attacks against the Rohingyas.
as rioting erupted in the whole of burma the army had an excuse to take over the law and order situation. the army has been accused of war crimes including the burning of corpses
to cover up the evidences of genocide and been accused of ethnic cleansing by the UN.
Women raped, baby's slain, men killed, thousands of people murdered. those fleeing to Bangladesh were refused entry those fleeing to other provinces killed and many fleeing by sea would drown.
To this day the Rohingya are deprived of education, health care and basic human rights.
the government refusing to even recognise there nationality due to there religion.
Yet the international community remains silent turning a blind eye to the atrocity's taking place as this situation doesn't pose a threat to them 'its an internal problem' just a waste of money if they intervene.
Before i finish this article i will leave you with two questions:
what happened to Saddam Hussein and Hitler when he was accused of killing his own people?
and why is this situation being handled differently by the international community?
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