Let our voice reach Rohingya

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San Suu Kyi, who came to power as the first civilian administration after the junta regime in Myanmar, was considered as a great hope for the Rohingya Muslims. The promises she made before the election were hopeful and peaceful. The Rohingya believed that things would change for the better for the first time in years. But the expectations of the Rohingya, who have been subjected to genocide for years, resulted in disappointment.

The Rohingya people have made the headlines with reports of massacres, genocides and exiles for a long time, and new reports on August 28th showed that the situation has become even more critical for Rohingya Muslims. The European Rohingya Council (ERC) reported on August 28th that between two and three thousand Muslims were martyred within three days during attacks by the members of the army in Rakhine province of Myanmar. Some human rights organizations situated in the region state that this number is somewhere around 20,000. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) regional spokeswoman of Bangladesh Vivian Tan said that the number of people fleeing to Bangladesh from the violence ongoing since August 25th has reached nearly 125,000 and that the majority of them had not eaten anything for days.

While stating that there had already been massacres in 20 villages until now, Rohingya writer Habib Rahman continued saying: “Many people are hiding in jungles near their houses because they are being shot dead if they try to travel to another place.” Rahman also said: “Rohingya people are systematically locked up, and there are 42 concentration camps in the Rakhine state, which were isolated from the world. Nobody can visit these places.”

How these people lived in these camps and what kind of tortures they suffered were hidden from the eyes of the world until now. Regrettably, by the time the world heard it many innocent Muslims had already been martyred. Habib Rahman says that these acts of brutality included attacks on Muslims who escaped from their homes with tanks and rocket launchers.

According to Rahman, this is a “silent genocide”.

Even while these words are being written, massacres and genocide still continue to take place in the region.

As a matter of fact, the energy routes that will pass through the homeland of Rohingya Muslims, which I revealed years ago, have long been the focal point. The policy to annihilate the Muslim population on these valuable lands would be left to the Myanmar government. In the face of these facts, it is not realistic to expect a solution from the Western powers or the United Nations for this tragedy the Rohingya Muslims experience. Those who will benefit the most from the proposed energy routes will always be in favor of destroying the Muslim population there, either by martyring or driving them away. Even though the meetings held to raise humanitarian aid are a demonstration of goodwill, the Muslim world should know that they will not produce any permanent solutions.

It is about time that the Muslim world abandon its strategy to wait for a solution from the West. Provided that they stay united, the world’s 1.7 billion Muslims would have a tremendous potential and enormous power.

Indeed, sensible and mindful leaders are carrying out a shuttle diplomacy on the subject. But we have to be quick.

The President of the Turkish Republic, Mr. Erdoğan, stated that the negotiations about helping the Rohingya people are going on with leaders of Muslim countries. Turkey has informed the Bangladeshi government that in exchange for accepting Muslims arriving at their border, all expenses will be covered by Turkey. This will at least ensure that poor people who escape from that region can take refuge in a safe place. The telephone conversation President Erdoğan had with Suu Kyi has also proven to be productive; foreign deliveries of aid were approved after that telephone conversation on Tuesday.

But of course, the policy to annihilate the Muslim population needs to be exposed and be loudly condemned. For this, a meeting of millions of people attended also by some Muslim leaders should be organized if necessary. It is clear that small meetings and condemnations will not make enough noise. A nation collectively condemning this brutality will be effective in a real sense. It is now time for Muslims to come together and make their voices heard. Our voice must reach to the Rohingya people who experience this brutality.

By Harun Yahya – Author

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