For some time now, the Rohingya issue has been all over the media. For all the right reasons? Or is it the other way round?
Quoting The Hindu, “Rejected by the country they were born in and shunned by the neighbouring states, the Rohingya are among the the most vulnerable amongst forcibly displaced groups”.
To put it in simpler words,Rohingyas are basically an ethnic group originally based in Myanmar,largely comprising of Muslims who were displaced from their homeland for the religious violence that broke out,hence depriving them of their basic means to livelihood,turning them into refugees hence compelling them to migrate to neighbouring states.
Without going into details,the first question which will bother any sane human is, “Is this even a just act, on anybody’s part?” The most fortunate creatures on the planet- Humans, need to fear their lives, without even taking into account the basic necessities. My fellow humans have become so blind that they have certainly ceased to think in the broader term,which is humanity.
But given the overly intricate lives we lead today,it calls for a deeper insight.According to Newspaper Reports,an estimated 87,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh since late 2016.The influx has been increasing since August 25.About five lakh Rohingyas have already taken shelter in Bangladesh over the last two decades.Quoting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, “We have given shelter to a huge number of Rohingya refugees on humanitarian grounds and it’s a big problem for us”. Evidently, a country’s policies will not allow it to take charge of an entire community, which itself has a significant population to look after. Moreover, when the number is everyday increasing.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs there are approximately 40,000 Rohingyas living in India. They have reportedly reached India from Bangladesh through the land route over the years. India as a country cannot afford to shelter them, burden on limited resources and security reasons (for the worldview says that Muslims are terrorists) are cited, specifically speaking.
There has been immense debate on the deportation of the Rohingyas. But where? Myanmar, where they belong to denies they are its nationals.In such a crisis,there are major questions to mull over.Even if India agrees to shelter the displaced community, for how long it will be feasible for the developing country to do so? Bangladesh has even asked the United States to put pressure on Myanmar to stop the exodus of Rohingyas.
From every argument put forward and from every conclusion that has been drawn,what is the most underlying idea of everything responsible and everything that is happening? Fear of death. Rohingyas are fleeing places for the same.And countries are unwilling to accept them,for inevitably the same reason.
There are numerous parameters considered.And consequently, there are numerous issues to dwell upon.But in the process, we are losing out on the humanitarian grounds.Few days back, the Supreme Court’s verdict “to strike a balance on the issue” conveys the same message.No matter how forced we are to think logically,compassion will always bring us down to our roots, humanity.
It is essential that the world shapes an integrated and legitimate solution to the problem,rather than discussing the deportation or the claim over the displaced community.It is time that countries behave as one unit to pave concrete ways to eliminate the fear that exists so that the repercussions of the decisions that follow are not hard to bear for anyone.
