OIC to discuss Rohingya issue on Jan 19

[bluesky]

02 Jan 2017, 19:48:07 | Updated : 02 Jan 2017, 20:09:44
OIC to discuss Rohingya issue on Jan 19
Bangladesh to place its position

The member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will come together in Kuala Lumpur on January 19 to discuss possible actions on the situation of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.

Sources said, this is going to be an ‘extraordinary’ meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam is expected to represent Bangladesh at the meeting, reports UNB.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will accompany Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her Switzerland visit at that time.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit Switzerland from January 16-20, said another official at the Foreign Ministry.

Bangladesh will place its position before the extraordinary meeting on overall situation apart from the latest development on Rohingya issue.

Meanwhile, the OIC Groups in Geneva and Brussels held emergency meetings during the past several days to discuss the ongoing crisis facing the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.

The meetings sought to identify possible actions that may be taken in the lead-up to the forthcoming extraordinary meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, according to officials at the OIC secretariat.

The meeting in Geneva was chaired by Ambassador Tahmina Janjua, Permanent Representative of Pakistan, in her capacity as OIC Geneva Group Coordinator on Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues, and in Brussels by Ambassador Vladimir Norov, Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Belgium, in his capacity as Chair of OIC Group, according to the OIC Headquarters.

In both the meetings, the Heads of OIC Permanent Missions in Geneva and Brussels briefed the meetings on the OIC’s latest efforts in responding to the Rohingya crisis.

During the course of discussions, members of the Groups exchanged their views on the latest developments, expressed their concerns over the continued violence against the Rohingya minority and expressed their unanimous apprehension at the attitude of the Myanmar government towards the situation in Rakhine state.

They reiterated the call for the restoration of the rights of the Rohingya community, including the fundamental rights to freely exercise their religion.

The Groups called for concrete actions to address the basic human rights and humanitarian issues of this long suffering minority and called upon the government to ensure that the displaced Rohingya population is allowed to return to their homes in safety and dignity.

The Geneva and Brussels meetings proposed further engagement with the international community, including the United Nations and the European Union in particular, in order to coordinate further action alleviate the plight of the Rohingya people.

Myanmar will, however, send a special envoy soon to Dhaka to see and evaluate the situation of Rohingya people. Myanmar State Counsellor and leader of the National League for Democracy Aung San Suu Kyi will send the envoy.

“The special envoy will come here once we finalise meeting with our Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina). It’s very difficult to get her appointment before her Switzerland visit,” a diplomat said. Myanmar Ambassador in Dhaka Myo Myint Than is in touch with Foreign Ministry officials here to fix the visit and engagements in Dhaka.

Dhaka says around 50,000 people have fled Myanmar and entered Bangladesh since October 9.

Earlier on December 29, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Myanmar Ambassador in Dhaka Myo Myint Than and demanded early repatriation of all Myanmar nationals staying in the country. Bangladesh also expressed its readiness to engage with Myanmar to discuss process and modalities of repatriation with Myanmar.

The European Parliament (EP) has asked the government of Myanmar to allow the UN and other outside observers to assist in investigating recent events in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw district.

The EP also urged the military and security forces to stop immediately the ‘killings, harassment and rapes’ of the Rohingya people, and the burning of their homes.

It made the call in a resolution on the situation of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar on December 15.

 

[bluesky]

• Why we sympathise with the Rohingyas

• Mubashar Hasan
• Published at 06:40 PM January 01, 2017
• Last updated at 06:42 PM January 01, 2017

What do we need to do with the most persecuted minority at our doorstep?
It is in Bangladesh’s self-interest to address Myanmar’s Rohingya problem


The Bangladeshi civil society is divided over Bangladesh’s stance towards incoming Rohingyas from Myanmar, who are fleeing a state of fascist oppression. At one side, there is a group who propounds that Bangladesh should open the border for Rohingya people on humanitarian grounds, whereas on the other side, there is another group who argues that Rohingyas are not in any way Bangladesh’s problem

What is missing from this debate is an analysis of the long-term impact of the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh and the geo-strategic implication of the crisis in the region and the world. The latest report of the International Crisis Group (ICG) sheds some worrying signs which should be a matter of serious concern for Bangladesh and its security.

The ICG report finds that a new armed insurgency is on the rise among Rohingyas. According to the ICG: “The Rohingya insurgent group, which refers to itself as Harakah al-Yaqin (Faith Movement, HaY), is led by a committee of Rohingya émigrés in Saudi Arabia and is commanded on the ground by Rohingya with international training and experience in modern guerrilla war tactics.” The report further adds that this group “benefits from the legitimacy provided by local and international fatwas (religious judicial opinions) in support of its cause and enjoys considerable sympathy and backing from Muslims in northern Rakhine State, including several hundred locally trained recruits.”

This finding about the longstanding Rohingya problem in Myanmar offers new perspectives on how Bangladesh should revisit its approach with Myanmar problem. For example, the emergence of such an insurgent group could be problematic for Bangladesh on the ground that our country has been facing irregular challenges of violent extremism. In this regard, several global reports have highlighted how few groups, advancing violent extremism in the name of religion, are recruiting a new generation of extremists using Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis.

The Myanmar situation is grave and it will most likely persist for long with elements which might produce instability in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government can ponder on leading an international campaign to assert serious pressure to isolate Myanmar

It has now become regular practice among conservatives to take to the streets to protest Myanmar’s fascist approach towards Rohingyas after the Friday prayers. While these Bangladeshi conservatives have every right to stand for humanity and Rohingyas in Myanmar, what is disturbing is that the whole problem is being framed through a religious paradigm rather than a political paradigm. By which I mean that Myanmar’s dealing with Rohingya people, revoking their citizenship, and other discriminatory acts have strong resemblances with Hitler’s Nazism or even South African Apartheid. However, Bangladeshi conservatives choose to stand for Rohingyas simply because they (Rohingyas) are Muslims by religion.

In this way, the Bangladeshi protest towards Myanmar because of its oppression of Rohingyas transforms into a politics based on religion, rather than a purely humanitarian protest. This has implications as people associated with this sort of protest uphold a religio-political consciousness and may develop sympathy for extreme conservative politics which, in many ways, stand at odds with nationalist or country-centric political consciousness.

The somewhat aloof role of Bangladeshi state with regards to to dealing with Myanmar may further strengthen religio-political consciousness among a generation of Bangladeshis who were found again and again by various indices of world value surveys holding a strong religio-political consciousness. There are many studies which confirm that holding religio-political consciousness is one of the primary indicators behind joining violent extremist groups. That doesn’t necessarily mean that all of those who hold strong consciousness based on politico-religion would transform into violent extremists.

This new insurgent group in Myanmar is an addition to other already existing groups in the world such as the Talibans, al-Qaeda, IS, al-Shabab, and so on. It is probable that the rise of this Rohingya insurgency is a response to the fascist state of Myanmar, which had outstripped Rohingyas of their citizenship. Against the backdrop of rising intolerance among the spectrum of some Muslims in Muslim countries, some Hindus in India, some Buddhists in Myanmar, and some Christians in Europe, America, and Australia — the Rohingya issue may fuel further extremism in South Asia and the world.

It should be noted that the international community including political leaders of the free world, civil society, and media have failed to respond quickly and effectively to Myanmar’s longstanding oppression of the Rohingyas.

Critics may argue that if similar state behavior were to be found in any Muslim country, the response would have been intensive and different and such behaviour of the international community is not likely to go unnoticed by anti-Western elements.

The Myanmar situation is grave and it will most likely persist for long with elements which might produce instability in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government can ponder on leading an international campaign to assert serious pressure to isolate Myanmar.

Mubashar Hasan is an Assistant Professor, Political Science and Sociology, North South University and the founder of www.alochonaa.com, an online platform to promote dialogue among civilisations.

 

[Khafee]

Oh I See

 

[bluesky]

Oh I See

You are too philosophical. So, what do you see?

 

[Khafee]

You are too philosophical. Sop, what do you see?

Sorry wasn't meant for you.

OIC = Oh I See

 

[bluesky]

OIC symbolizes an organization without a direction and has become a platform of otherwise underworked delegates from the Muslim nations. However, let us see what actions they take on Rohingya issue at hand. Probably, they will decide to wait until the day when Allah the almighty interferes directly on behalf of His very dear Muslims.

 

[padamchen]

OIC symbolizes an organization without a direction and has become a platform of otherwise underworked delegates from the Muslim nations. However, let us see what actions they take on Rohingya issue at hand. Probably, they will decide to wait until the day when Allah the almighty interferes directly on behalf of His very dear Muslims.

Or Bangladeshis actually take their own back.

Whichever comes first.

 

[Exiled_Soldier]

Or Bangladeshis actually take their own back.

Whichever comes first.

Idiot. Rohingyas arent BD's own. There is no question of taking back. They belong to a separate country since 1947. Randian moron talking shyt having some piss drink in the morning.

 

[TopCat]

Or Bangladeshis actually take their own back.

Whichever comes first.

Go to the comment section and read what you Indian talk about other Indians.
Nobody in the entire world expect anything better from savages like you. Sometimes Burmese savages comes second against Indian in that.

 

[padamchen]

Idiot. Rohingyas arent BD's own. There is no question of taking back. They belong to a separate country since 1947. Randian moron talking shyt having some piss drink in the morning.

Reported for abuse.

@waz (any feedback on the Khafee minus one?)

 

[Exiled_Soldier]

Reported for abuse.

@waz (any feedback on the Khafee minus one?)

I have also reported both your posts for trolling with Rohingya issue, and second one for abusing me by reporting and quoting my post as a stinky Indian.

 

[padamchen]

stinky Indian.

@waz

 

[Gandh brandi]

Ooh look he baited and is now crying daddy.

 

[bluesky]

Actually all Bengalis are brown black & stinky same way or worse

We are what we are. But, since when the Indians have been pretending Anglo Saxons? See the Hanuman-looking Indian Indian Whites below:

 

[Mage]

Rohyngas are being massacred for months and they are gonna discuss this issue half a month later. Why do I dislike these useless orgys(I wouldn't call it an organization) dominated by arabs? They only care about Arab Muslims.