The Rohingya dies as the world lives on

Hajima woke up to thick smoke and cries. Loud cries from all around her. She prayed to God that this would be one of the routine nightmares she had been having for the last six years. But no, the thick smoke in her dreams were never this choking though the cries, she felt, were always […]

Hajima woke up to thick smoke and cries. Loud cries from all around her. She prayed to God that this would be one of the routine nightmares she had been having for the last six years. But no, the thick smoke in her dreams were never this choking though the cries, she felt, were always much louder. 

As she opened her eyes, ardently praying and cursing under a single breath that her nightmares haven’t found a way to claw out to reality, she was stunned. ‘Mama!’, she yelled looking around as the wails grew louder behind the thick black smoke she was engulfed in. Hajima made out the figure of what might have been her mother, surrounded by flames a few metres away. 

She leapt to see what could be done, the resounding sound of gun shots threatening to deafen her. Still she stretched to drag her bed-ridden and now wailing mother through the flames and towards her, while the burns beneath her feet and the tears streamed down her cheeks. Then there was a familiar buzzing sound, a loud boom and with that silence. Silence and blood.

The above scene is unfortunately the life lived by hundreds of Rohingya Muslims, every day. A few weeks ago, I came across this line as introduction to an Aljazeera documentary film on the Rohingya:

‘This program contains graphic and violent scenes from the start, which some viewers may find distressing.’ I sat up, paused the documentary and wondered to myself why such a thing needed to be told to viewers. Even though I am aware of the essential role such a warning plays, I felt mad that the viewer deserves a warning or apology for being shown the truth.

The Rohingya, often referred to as the worlds most persecuted minority, ‘are a minority Muslim ethnic group in the Rakhine region of Myanmar [initially Burma]’. According to a UN report, 78% of the households in Rohingya live below the poverty line. There were approximately 1.1 million Rohingya living there. The Rohingya trace their origins back to the 15th Century, but were however denied any recognition by Myanmar in 1948 after she gained her independence. Today they are going through one of the worst cases of ethnic cleansing in the world.

After denying them any recognition, the Rohingya were identified as illegal Bengali immigrants and refused citizenship. This made them effectively ‘stateless’. According to the 1982 citizenship law of Myanmar, the Rohingya are termed ‘non-nationals’ or ‘foreign residents’.

As a result of their ‘stateless’ status, there has been a systematic crackdown on their existence. The Rohingya had reported rape, arson, murder and torture meted out to them by the Myanmar military forces. Things however took a turn for the worse when some Rohingya were charged with gang rape in 2012. They [the Rohingya] then started to be evicted from their homes, and their lands confiscated. According to a UNHCR report, more than 168,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since 2012. The fleeing of Myanmar by the Rohingya was often through water courses, hence this earned them the infamous title; ‘the boat people’. They comprise the old and the young, the strong and the maimed, women and children, not  excluding infants of a few days old!

Why is the world mostly silent in the face of this agonizing reality witnessed by the Rohingya? Why is this matter being treated as though it is a whimper and not a bang? Why are the Rohingya ignored despite the many agonizing trials and tribulations before them? Why do we see things like this and choose to do nothing? With a case of Ethnic Cleansing of this proportion, why do we misplace our priorities, putting matters that are trivial compared to this, before it? Isn’t it time we answer the long-waiting call of the Rohingya? Don’t we fear that the time has come for us to face the strong sad music and listen to the plea of thousands of our brothers and sisters going through this trying time? As these questions remain largely unanswered, life goes on and the Rohingyas wail into nothingness. 

Fatima Bobboyi wrote in from Abuja.