The oppression and attacks on the Rohingya Muslims - ongoing for almost 250 years - have been on a sharp climb since 2012. Nearly 1,000 Muslims were ruthlessly martyred in Rakhine Province in June of that same year. 125,000 people were driven away from their homes and villages, forced to live in the mountains and forests. For the past two years, the Myanmar government has launched a campaign of genocide, full of fire, blood and brutality, aimed at completely destroying Rohingya Muslims.
In October, 2016, about 100,000 Rohingya Muslims were displaced as a result of resurgent military violence and oppression. More than 75,000 Muslims were forced to settle in the Kutupalong Camp and its surroundings in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar area; Kutupalong is widely regarded as quite possibly the worst refugee camp in the world.
Finally, the conflicts in the Rakhine region flared up after the killing of 10 police officers by ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) militants. Holding all Rohingya Muslims responsible for the death of the police officers, Myanmar’s military forces and gangs, went on a human hunt in the region and terrorized the poor innocent Rohingya.
Rohingya people who escaped from attacks, where thousands of Muslims have been martyred, burned alive and tens of thousands tortured, were rejected at the border of Bangladesh by the police as always. Approximately 60,000 Muslims are still struggling to stay alive in the mountainous regions as they cannot cross the border.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Yanghee Lee, says the situation in Rakhine, which has been under attack by the army and various gangs since August 25th, is "much worse" than the last October. Yet, it is pleasing to see that Bangladesh recently allowed 270 thousand Rohingya to take refuge in its camps even though it has limited and weak resources.
The Myanmar government and the shadow behind all these incidents, President Aung San Suu Kyi, offer pointless explanations such as "there is no ethnic cleansing,” or “the reports are exaggerated" to cover up the facts. Based on these unfounded explanations, she doesn't allow emergency humanitarian aid to reach the region. In this way, hungry, thirsty, homeless, weak, sick, disabled and wounded Rohingya survivors are being annihilated by depriving them of urgent necessities such as food, shelter and medicine.
A mysterious element which recently came to the forefront and played a leading role in the atrocities Rohingya Muslims faced, is the ARSA militia. As it is known, the latest disaster that Rohingya people experienced was the attack on Myanmar security points on August 25th by ARSA in which 10 policemen were killed. Likewise, the attacks, massacres and exiles targeting the Rohingya in October 2016 were also the result of the Myanmar security forces' bloody response to the attacks carried out by ARSA.
In other words, whatever key roles Al Qaeda, Taliban and DAESH played in the destruction, genocide and massacres experienced in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya, the same role is now being played by ARSA in Rakhine.
As we know, there is a major international competition for the rich gas and oil deposits in the Bengal Gulf, off the coast of Rakhine. The two biggest competitors are the UK and China. The only means of transporting energy resources from the Gulf to China is straight through Rakhine Province.
The leader supported for so long by the British to end the Chinese domination in the region is, as expected, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now regarded as the chief perpetrator of the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Aung San Suu Kyi, introduced as the woman who would put an end to Beijing's dominance, is supported in this task, in other words, for the task of blocking the Myanmar-China energy transmission lines passing through Rakhine.
It is claimed that to this end, it is necessary to create complete dominance and control as well as a security sector in the Rakhine region by turning it into a "no man's land." As you can see, the inhabitants of the region, the Rohingya Muslims, are considered as the only obstacle standing in the way of this insidious strategy. This is the truth behind the policy of genocide, the severity of which has recently multiplied against the poor people of the region.
The oppression, persecution, torture and injustice faced by the Rohingya Muslims, officially declared as the most persecuted people in the world by the UN, are currently unprecedented. This cruelty, which is regrettably still in full swing before the eyes of the entire world should be protested and actively intervened against by the international community for the sake of civilization and humanity, and by Muslim societies for the sake of faith and brotherhood,.
Until now, humanity has stood aside as mere spectators while Rohingya Muslims were subjected to indescribable tortures and massacres and did no more than condoning those acts, issuing ineffective condemnations and reproach. However, this deplorable situation can be stopped by the joint and strong reactions of the Muslim world. The collective reaction and united sanctions of Muslim countries can show that the Muslims in that region are not unprotected or uncared for. Protecting these people who have experienced nothing but suffering at the hands of those around them, who look around with terrified eyes to everyone other than their own, ending their suffering, bringing them peace, happiness and security after years of fear and misery is essentially the duty of all Muslims. The international community may well have remained largely silent, but Muslims should not.
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