Walking through the dense forest on the border of Bangladesh, Rahman had all the worries surging in his mind. Whether he would be able to sneak through the pickets of "nasaka" ( border security force of Burma). He had walked bare foot and in extreme hot and humid conditions to run away from his village. He was all alone as there was nobody left who could accompany him. His head was filled with the screams of women and children including his own. How could he forget the day when his village was first visited by the Rakhine people. The Buddhist who have gone blood thirsty for his blood and his fellow Rohingyas blood. They came with weapons and fuel. They got hold of his young cousin and raped her in front of the village. They gathered everyone in the main square and tied all the males with a rope.They pushed all of them in a line to an unknown place.
He was not among them as he was out of the village and returning. Before he could bump into the Rakhines, he was stopped by the screams. He hid himself in the heavy undergrowth and crawled near to the village. He was horrified at the sight. He was about to jump into the open to fight for his children when he saw the dead body of his wife. His children were nowhere to be found. He tried to see from behind the bush to locate them but it appeared that his young sons were counted among the male and taken away. In a spur of a moment he understood that he had lost everything and there was not much left to safe guard.
As he was among those in the village who have gone to school so he was better able to control his emotions and think with more sense. In a split second he understood that if he has to survive he has to run and cross the jungle into Bangladesh. Only then he could narrate all what was happening in his village and many more such places around it.
He knew that for this all to end he has to knock at the doors of the world and shake their conscience. Though he understood little of anything further. He had a very vague idea of what could be done next but he knew that only chance for survival was in running away.
Here he was bare footed in the jungle. Feeling thirsty and exhausted. The trauma of loss that he has born just and the shock of the sight had made him numb. As if he could feel and think nothing.
After many days of this ordeal he emerged out of the forest into the jute fields where he could see some people in the distance. He was so hungry and tired that he could barely walk. As he got near he understood from the words he listened that he had already reached Bangladesh.
He fainted with utter exhaustion. When he woke up he found himself in a tin roofed hut that barely had any walls. He could hear the buzz of flies mixing with a low murmur of talking, He got up , as he looked around there were many people under that roof. Their faces told their tales of agony and deprivation and fear with such eloquence that it was not difficult for him to understand in minute details how these people have arrived there and what they have passed through.
He lie down again as he was tried and his body was aching. His mind was still at peace thinking that at last he has crossed the border away from the atrocities of the Rakhine and now he would have the chance to narrate the stories of his turmoil and get some recourse.
But this was not to be as the next day a few people came. They were Bangladesh officials along with there army men. They told them that all the Rohingyas have to go back as their country was not willing to take on the burden of refugees any more.
Rahman tried to argue with one of the official in broken language as much as he could speak. He tried to make him understand that what type of atrocities they were facing in Burma and how his wife was killed and children taken. But this has little impact. Angered by his incessant arguments the official slapped him. This was the time Rahman lost patience and hope both. Tears rolled from his eyes for the first time.
With his little education and further limited exposure he believed that the world was a place where mostly people were ready to help others. He believed that he would find justice if he only reached out.
He believed that humans were equal and they have same rights. He had dreamt of sending his children to school and making them educated men. He had dreamt of small house with his family where he would pass his old days in peace sharing the stories of his great great grand father who lived here in the Arakan Kingdom with peace and harmony. He believed that majority of the humans speak the language of the humanity, but this all was shattered.
He looked around in tears, his fellow hut mates. Most of them with sunken eyes and frail bodies. Whose faces bore witness to the crimes against humanity they have seen.
With the tears blocking his view he realised they were "Rohingyas" the State less people. Who can be buried anywhere they are killed or die but have no land to live. He knew for most them it will be a journey of death either to go back or to go forward to Thailand or Malaysia.
For him the world has darkened and the sun had turned black. He thought of his only sister Gultaz. She lived in a nearby village near the old site of Mrauk-U with her husband. This was an archaeological site in the Arakan State. Their distress and bad luck started when the Burmese Army set its eyes to make Mrauk-U a tourism site. Her husband was marshaled along with many other Rohingya males from the locality and the nearby villages and were forced to do labour without any compensation. They were barely fed and often beaten and tortured. There was no law for them and nor rights. Even the Army fed its dogs well which helped them sniff out the absconders and runners who would try to escape the trap of forced labour and bondage.
Gultaz husband could take no more and one day he took courage and ran away. Though the Army fed its dogs well but the luck favoured the hungry and beaten Rohingya who was able to run away and cross out of the border and ultimatley reach a refugee camp in Malaysia.
Gultaz was left all alone and at the mercy of the Rakhine Buddhists and the Army. She witnessed so much that she almost lost her mind. Her nerves could take no more. Dead bodies of tortured Rohingyas , molested woman who would find refuge in death alone and charred children who died in flames before they could experience any of the charms of life.
She had a child and she had to save herself and her child. One day she also escaped and the luck favoured her also. She could not recount the journey through the forest, the hunger and fatigue. Yet she crossed into Bangladesh like her brother Rahman., athough knowing nothing about him. She did not stop in the refugee shelters in Bangladesh but she had to buy her way through a boat voyage to Thailand. The story of this voyage and how it was paid better be remained untold. Or atleast she tried to forget it and swore never to narrate it to any one.
From Thailand she had to go to Malaysia where she was told she would be able to find her husband. When she reached the refugee camp in Malaysia , it was like she had toiled for centuries. There was nothing that was pure any more and nothing was sacred. She could feel herself as a living dead or she would prefer herself to be seen as undead. Not dead till now!! Yes she was not dead in her body but her soul had been badly beaten and had it not been for her child she would have ended her life already.
When she reached Malaysia the camp was a bare hutment with thatched roofs. Food was provided and clothes were given but the conditions were not good. Necessities were provided but respect was scanty and in short supply. She would stare into the sky through the holes of her hut and see its blue colour and wondered why it was still blue and had not changed to black.
Still the blue sky would remind her of her village and her life with her family; husband and her child.
She held a promise in her heart that when she will get the identity and the homeland back she will educate her child and lead a happy life; settled in her village for the next generations, without having to run and cross borders again. She hoped that she will never have to buy her way on another boat voyage to freedom.
As she gazes into the far sky even now and look for the silver lining as a promise of that day when she will have a home and a home land. She will not be "state less " any more and will have a proud identity of her own. As the proud and courageous Rohingya People who lived for generations in the Arakan Kingdom.
FACTS:
The Burmese authorities stripped the Rohingya of their Burmese citizenship in 1982, arguing that they are Bangladeshi. But the Bangladeshi government also does not accept the Rohingya as their citizens. So the Rohingya community is stateless, with no government that accepts them.
Melanie Teff, Refugees International noted this in her blog on Alert Net."The Rohingya have no rights in Burma, and their lives are made impossible by such practices as forced labor, displacement and systematic physical assault and rape. They are not allowed to marry or travel to other villages unless they pay prohibitively high taxes."
Read more on this at : ALERT NET BLOG on ROHINGYA
A report by Amnesty International states:
“Declaring a state of emergency is not a license to commit human rights violations,” said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher.
“It is the duty of security forces to defend the rights of everyone – without exception or discrimination – from abuses by others, while abiding by human rights standards themselves.”
The Myanmar government declared a state of emergency in Rakhine State on 10 June, following an outbreak of communal violence the previous week among the Buddhist Rakhine, Muslim Rakhine, and Muslim Rohingya communities. It remains in effect in several areas.
Since then, Myanmar’s Border Security Force (nasaka), army, and police have conducted massive sweeps in areas that are heavily populated by Rohingyas. Hundreds of mostly men and boys have been detained, with nearly all held incommunicado, and some subjected to ill-treatment.
While the restoration of order, security, and the protection of human rights is necessary, most arrests appear to have been arbitrary and discriminatory, violating the rights to liberty and to freedom from discrimination on grounds of religion.
Another report says:
On 3 June, a large group of local Rakhine Buddhists killed 10 Muslims in Taung Gouk township in Rakhine State, who were returning by bus to their homes in Yangon.
Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission said on 11 July that at least 78 people have been killed since the violence began, but unofficial estimates exceed 100.
Between 50,000 and 90,000 people – with lower figures coming from the government and higher ones from UN agencies– are estimated to have been displaced.
He was not among them as he was out of the village and returning. Before he could bump into the Rakhines, he was stopped by the screams. He hid himself in the heavy undergrowth and crawled near to the village. He was horrified at the sight. He was about to jump into the open to fight for his children when he saw the dead body of his wife. His children were nowhere to be found. He tried to see from behind the bush to locate them but it appeared that his young sons were counted among the male and taken away. In a spur of a moment he understood that he had lost everything and there was not much left to safe guard.
As he was among those in the village who have gone to school so he was better able to control his emotions and think with more sense. In a split second he understood that if he has to survive he has to run and cross the jungle into Bangladesh. Only then he could narrate all what was happening in his village and many more such places around it.
He knew that for this all to end he has to knock at the doors of the world and shake their conscience. Though he understood little of anything further. He had a very vague idea of what could be done next but he knew that only chance for survival was in running away.
Here he was bare footed in the jungle. Feeling thirsty and exhausted. The trauma of loss that he has born just and the shock of the sight had made him numb. As if he could feel and think nothing.
After many days of this ordeal he emerged out of the forest into the jute fields where he could see some people in the distance. He was so hungry and tired that he could barely walk. As he got near he understood from the words he listened that he had already reached Bangladesh.
He fainted with utter exhaustion. When he woke up he found himself in a tin roofed hut that barely had any walls. He could hear the buzz of flies mixing with a low murmur of talking, He got up , as he looked around there were many people under that roof. Their faces told their tales of agony and deprivation and fear with such eloquence that it was not difficult for him to understand in minute details how these people have arrived there and what they have passed through.
He lie down again as he was tried and his body was aching. His mind was still at peace thinking that at last he has crossed the border away from the atrocities of the Rakhine and now he would have the chance to narrate the stories of his turmoil and get some recourse.
But this was not to be as the next day a few people came. They were Bangladesh officials along with there army men. They told them that all the Rohingyas have to go back as their country was not willing to take on the burden of refugees any more.
Rahman tried to argue with one of the official in broken language as much as he could speak. He tried to make him understand that what type of atrocities they were facing in Burma and how his wife was killed and children taken. But this has little impact. Angered by his incessant arguments the official slapped him. This was the time Rahman lost patience and hope both. Tears rolled from his eyes for the first time.
With his little education and further limited exposure he believed that the world was a place where mostly people were ready to help others. He believed that he would find justice if he only reached out.
He believed that humans were equal and they have same rights. He had dreamt of sending his children to school and making them educated men. He had dreamt of small house with his family where he would pass his old days in peace sharing the stories of his great great grand father who lived here in the Arakan Kingdom with peace and harmony. He believed that majority of the humans speak the language of the humanity, but this all was shattered.
He looked around in tears, his fellow hut mates. Most of them with sunken eyes and frail bodies. Whose faces bore witness to the crimes against humanity they have seen.
With the tears blocking his view he realised they were "Rohingyas" the State less people. Who can be buried anywhere they are killed or die but have no land to live. He knew for most them it will be a journey of death either to go back or to go forward to Thailand or Malaysia.
For him the world has darkened and the sun had turned black. He thought of his only sister Gultaz. She lived in a nearby village near the old site of Mrauk-U with her husband. This was an archaeological site in the Arakan State. Their distress and bad luck started when the Burmese Army set its eyes to make Mrauk-U a tourism site. Her husband was marshaled along with many other Rohingya males from the locality and the nearby villages and were forced to do labour without any compensation. They were barely fed and often beaten and tortured. There was no law for them and nor rights. Even the Army fed its dogs well which helped them sniff out the absconders and runners who would try to escape the trap of forced labour and bondage.
Gultaz husband could take no more and one day he took courage and ran away. Though the Army fed its dogs well but the luck favoured the hungry and beaten Rohingya who was able to run away and cross out of the border and ultimatley reach a refugee camp in Malaysia.
Gultaz was left all alone and at the mercy of the Rakhine Buddhists and the Army. She witnessed so much that she almost lost her mind. Her nerves could take no more. Dead bodies of tortured Rohingyas , molested woman who would find refuge in death alone and charred children who died in flames before they could experience any of the charms of life.
She had a child and she had to save herself and her child. One day she also escaped and the luck favoured her also. She could not recount the journey through the forest, the hunger and fatigue. Yet she crossed into Bangladesh like her brother Rahman., athough knowing nothing about him. She did not stop in the refugee shelters in Bangladesh but she had to buy her way through a boat voyage to Thailand. The story of this voyage and how it was paid better be remained untold. Or atleast she tried to forget it and swore never to narrate it to any one.
From Thailand she had to go to Malaysia where she was told she would be able to find her husband. When she reached the refugee camp in Malaysia , it was like she had toiled for centuries. There was nothing that was pure any more and nothing was sacred. She could feel herself as a living dead or she would prefer herself to be seen as undead. Not dead till now!! Yes she was not dead in her body but her soul had been badly beaten and had it not been for her child she would have ended her life already.
When she reached Malaysia the camp was a bare hutment with thatched roofs. Food was provided and clothes were given but the conditions were not good. Necessities were provided but respect was scanty and in short supply. She would stare into the sky through the holes of her hut and see its blue colour and wondered why it was still blue and had not changed to black.
Still the blue sky would remind her of her village and her life with her family; husband and her child.
She held a promise in her heart that when she will get the identity and the homeland back she will educate her child and lead a happy life; settled in her village for the next generations, without having to run and cross borders again. She hoped that she will never have to buy her way on another boat voyage to freedom.
As she gazes into the far sky even now and look for the silver lining as a promise of that day when she will have a home and a home land. She will not be "state less " any more and will have a proud identity of her own. As the proud and courageous Rohingya People who lived for generations in the Arakan Kingdom.
FACTS:
The Burmese authorities stripped the Rohingya of their Burmese citizenship in 1982, arguing that they are Bangladeshi. But the Bangladeshi government also does not accept the Rohingya as their citizens. So the Rohingya community is stateless, with no government that accepts them.
Melanie Teff, Refugees International noted this in her blog on Alert Net."The Rohingya have no rights in Burma, and their lives are made impossible by such practices as forced labor, displacement and systematic physical assault and rape. They are not allowed to marry or travel to other villages unless they pay prohibitively high taxes."
Read more on this at : ALERT NET BLOG on ROHINGYA
A report by Amnesty International states:
“Declaring a state of emergency is not a license to commit human rights violations,” said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher.
“It is the duty of security forces to defend the rights of everyone – without exception or discrimination – from abuses by others, while abiding by human rights standards themselves.”
The Myanmar government declared a state of emergency in Rakhine State on 10 June, following an outbreak of communal violence the previous week among the Buddhist Rakhine, Muslim Rakhine, and Muslim Rohingya communities. It remains in effect in several areas.
Since then, Myanmar’s Border Security Force (nasaka), army, and police have conducted massive sweeps in areas that are heavily populated by Rohingyas. Hundreds of mostly men and boys have been detained, with nearly all held incommunicado, and some subjected to ill-treatment.
While the restoration of order, security, and the protection of human rights is necessary, most arrests appear to have been arbitrary and discriminatory, violating the rights to liberty and to freedom from discrimination on grounds of religion.
Another report says:
On 3 June, a large group of local Rakhine Buddhists killed 10 Muslims in Taung Gouk township in Rakhine State, who were returning by bus to their homes in Yangon.
Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission said on 11 July that at least 78 people have been killed since the violence began, but unofficial estimates exceed 100.
Between 50,000 and 90,000 people – with lower figures coming from the government and higher ones from UN agencies– are estimated to have been displaced.
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