There have been reports in the international media of the kind of official survey now being carried out among the minority Rohingiya Muslim population in western Myanmar. Under existing Burmese law, people who can show proof of their stay in the country before 1948 are accepted as citizens of Myanmar.

However, this will bring little comfort to the one million or so Rohingiyas, who have come under fierce attacks from the Buddhist majority people as well as the administration. Very few have documents or evidence of citizenship of any kind. Considered stateless, and no part of the ethnic mainstream communities and groups in Myanmar, Rohingiyas have not found it easy to secure basic documents like birth or educational certificates from a highly prejudiced administration.

This survey follows a recent announcement made by Myanmar President Thein Sein, seemingly under international pressure, to the effect that his pro-democracy government would initiate measures to address the issues relating to the Rohingiyas, long regarded as Bangladeshis by the Burmese. Observers tended to regard this as a sign of softening on part of the administration that has been unrelentingly intolerant of the community.

However, international observers feel that the way the present survey was being conducted should dispel effectively any illusions that the Rohingiyas were about to get justice at long last. In the forms provided to the targeted population, the surveyors themselves filled up blanks putting down the identity of those questioned variously as “Bengali, religion Islamic” and so on. Clearly these characterisations are not designed to make it easy for those enumerated to qualify or claim their Burmese citizenship.

Myanmar regards them as Bangladeshi infiltrators, who have links with extremist Islamist organisations. Also, some of them have called for an autonomous status within Myanmar, which has not exactly endeared them to the Government or their fellow citizens.

As things stand, with very few Rohingiyas able to prove they had lived in Myanmar before 1948, it seems to the plight of the stateless community, considered the “most persecuted in the world”, is not likely to change for the better soon. So far, they have had to shuttle between Myanmar and Bangladesh with neither recognising them as their own citizens.

Bangladesh points to its inability to accept more Rohingiyas on its soil, after having around 250,000 some years ago, 30,000 of whom still live in make shift camps at Cox’s Bazar area. The government contends that Bangladesh has the highest population density in the world and is poor. Surely other countries and international agencies should have done more for the poor Muslims of Myanmar, instead of blaming Bangladesh for its stand. Both the US and the UN have been pressing Bangladesh not to close its borders , turning away Rohingiyas as they fled from Myanmar.

Even HR groups in Bangladesh have supported Dhaka on this issue. Dr Mizanur Rahman, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, noted that mutual distrust among nations had come in the way of an acceptable solution to a highly sensitive issue, in the Bangladesh media. He felt that the other countries, international community, and HR organisations should have by now put in place certain confidence buildings measures. At present, he felt that only a concerted effort by the HR groups in the region could help restore some confidence and security among the people. (IPA)