Looking at Rohingya Muslims’ Plight through Humanitarian Grounds

There have been heated debates on Government of India’s submission that Rohingyas cannot be accommodated in India and that they are a security threat. There has been wide spread breast beating by the same groups that had cried for clemency for Afzal  Guru and Tiger Memon; supported JNU students’ right to shout “Bharat Tere Tukde Honge”, and never spoke a word against Naxals who kill young girls and boys who wish to study or work for development of their region. They have shamed India about not respecting Human Rights of ‘refugees’ from Rakhine and not supporting them on humanitarian grounds.

I just wish to focus on this humanity angle.

No one needs to teach India about humanity and need for providing asylum to persecuted people. India did it even before UN Charter came into effect. We have heard and read enough about India’s open arms policy from the time of Parsis, Jews and Syrian Christians. They not only made India their home but became sons-of-the-soil in every sense.

We are also aware of humane support for Tibetan Buddhists, Tamils from Sri Lanka and Bangladeshis too in recent times.  The human rights people who also wave Constitution of India at us tell us to adopt Rohingya Muslims. Many of us too wonder why we cannot do this as a humanitarian gesture like we have been doing so far. The Human Rights and Secular groups mentioned above have been shaming Indian government on this. Supreme Court has found it urgent enough to take this case up due to petitions by these lobbies.

Terror angle, risk of their demographic explosion have been covered well enough by many analysts. I will leave that aside. I wish to highlight the deaf, dumb and blind human rights lobbies’ highly biased stand in this case.

There have been many groups wasting away their lives for want of support from government and other organisations. I will sight a few examples below -

1.       Reangs or Brus – These natives of Mizoram have been hounded out by Church backed terror organizations because they refused to convert. They finally landed up in Arunachal Pradesh and a few other places in North East. No hue and cry about violation of Human Rights ever made news. It took a few Hindu organizations to get them settled over decades with the help of local governments.

2.       Chakma Buddhists – They were 96% of population at time of Independence in 1947. They were sure that they will be joining India. They raised tricolour on August 15, 1947. Their leaders ran to Delhi when they realized that they were betrayed. No help was given. The flag was replaced with Pakistani flag after 3 days by Pakistani administration. Rewards? Further persecution. They began running away from Chittagong Hill Tracts – their habitat for eons. When  Kaptai dam was built, they became first environmental refugees, no help from Greens or Human Rights people came. Their persecution increased, more than one lac of Chakmas have been thrown out, their areas inhabited by Muslims from plains. Their population has gone down in CHT to less than 60%. They were settled with great difficulty in Tripura, some moving further north into the region. No Human Rights organization raised their issue, nobody helped them except local Hindu organizations.

3.       Mizoram –Quit Mizoram notices have been sent to legitimate Indian citizens 5 times over last decades by various Church backed Terror organizations. So called outsiders are routinely harassed,  many times violently too. No Secular or Human Rights lobby has spoken against it or supported persecuted people.

4.       Manipur – Meiteis living in Manipur since eons have been persecuted for decades by Naga insurgents, again supported by the Church. They are Vaishnavite sect. They have faced worst blockages in the name of Greater Nagalim. Meiteis have not done anything wrong to provoke the Nagas. Their only crime is they are Vaishnavite Hindus who are victims of Church backed violence by separatists. But, no national media or Left/Secular lobby has tried to reason with Nagas. Infact, last blockade was removed only after BJP government came to power in Nagaland for the first Time. There is total apathy from the entire Indian mainland political class.

I hope, readers can understand and wonder at this totally lopsided biased story of humanitarian support to Rohingya Muslims, who head bloody trail behind them for killing Hindus and Buddhists from their own habitat in pursuit of an independent nation in Myanmar.

11^th October, 2017

(Published first in www.newsbharati.com)