Dhaka protests at Tokyo stance on Rohingya genocide

The government has protested against Japan’s stance that no genocide was committed against ethnic and religious minority Rohingya people in Rakhine of Myanmar.

Foreign ministry secretary M Khurshed Alam on Monday afternoon communicated the protest at a meeting with Japanese ambassador in Bangladesh Ito Naoki at the foreign ministry, according to diplomatic sources.

The Bangladesh authorities made the protest as the Japanese ambassador to Myanmar Ichiro Maruyama said at a press conference in Yangon on December 26 that Japan believed that ‘there is no genocide in Myanmar’.

‘We are praying and hoping that ICJ will not issue a ruling for provisional measures’ [involving genocide against Rohingya people],’ he said.  

The Bangladesh government made the protest on the grounds that it ‘is seriously affected by the Rohingya crisis’ created by forced deportation, atrocity crimes and the genocide of Rohingya people, saying that the matter ‘is now at International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court,’ diplomats said.

More than 7,00,000 Rohingyas, mostly women, children and aged people, have entered Bangladesh after fleeing unbridled murder, arson, and rape during the last security ‘security operations’ by the Myanmar military in Rakhine since August 25, 2017, what the United Nations has denounced as ethnic cleansing and genocide.

The on-going Rohingya influx has raised the number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees from that country in Bangladesh to about 11,16,000, according to estimates by UN agencies and the Bangladesh foreign ministry.

A UN-mandated independent fact-finding commission concluded that the attacks on the Rohingya people were carried out with ‘genocidal intent’.

It also warned that roughly 6,00,000 Rohingya currently living in Myanmar face a ‘serious risk of genocide’.

Not a single Rohingya person has returned to Rakhine as Bangladesh and Myanmar took two attempts since the two countries signed three agreements, in last two years, for facilitating the repatriation of the people who have crossed over to Bangladesh since October 2016.

Rohingya people are unwilling to go back to Rakhine without guarantee of Myanmar citizenship, confirmation of their ethnic identity and assurance of safety, security and human rights under international supervision.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net