NEW DELHI: Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's incumbent State Counsellor, addressed the ongoing Rohingya issue, as global criticism deflects on her regime. In a state address she condemns “all human rights violations” in the country, and said, “After several months of seeming quiet and peace, 30 police outputs were attacked by armed Muslim groups. Consequently, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army was declared a terrorist group.” She said she was committed to the “rule of law” and peace and stability “for all people”. Suu Kyi said Myanmar “does not fear international scrutiny”, adding that she invites observers to come to Myanmar and look at the situation for themselves.
Global media has been rife with reports on the atrocities being meted out to people of the community. The UN estimates over 400,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since the army's response to the August attacks. Suu Kyi said “peace and stability is something we had to achieve after nearly 70 years of internal conflict”, claiming that several Muslim villagers have remained in Myanmar and have not fled. International observer organisations and human rights groups have alleged a “disproportionate army response” to the August attacks.
“Our government has emerged as a body committed to the defence of human rights, all within the borders of our country. We condemn all human rights violations, Myanmar is committed to peace and rule of law,” she said. Suu Kyi spoke about “allegations and counter-allegations” in a clear reference to global rights groups saying the Myanmar army is committing human rights abuses. She said her country is “complex”, hinting that it is hard to overcome all the challenges in shortest time possible”.
Addressing the 400,000 Muslim Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh, she said she is “concerned to hear” about them. Myanmar is “prepared to start refugee verification process for those who wish to return” from Bangladesh. “We would like to find out why this exodus is happening, we would like to talk to the people who have fled. The government has been making every effort to restore peace and stability and to bring harmony in Rakhine communities,” she said.
Most refugees of the community, who spent over a week trekking across country from Rakhine, to reach the Bangladesh border, walked to existing camps. Many families do not have a shelter over their heads and refugees have been fighting for food and water deliveries. A Rohingya refugee said she handed over her jewellery to a Bangladesh boatman to get across the river frontier from Myanmar. “We walked by night for three or four days to avoid the military and then came over by boat. We don't know what we will do or where we will live but if people here feed us, we will stay. We don't want to go back,” she said.
Bangladesh has seen a surge in the numbers of refugees since the violence that began last month. While there were already 300,000 Rohingya in makeshift camps, the most-recent round of violence that began on August 25 after Rohingya fighters attacked over 30 police and army posts, instigated new waves of asylum-seeking community members flooding to the neighbouring country. The mostly Muslim minority is not recognised as an ethnic group in Myanmar despite having lived there for generations. They are denied citizenship and are virtually stateless.
