DT e-Paper 27 February 2017

2
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017
DT
News
Rohingya women: The face
of unspeakable horror
• Tribune Desk
Some of these Rohingya women, all rape victims, are as young as 14. After the harrowing torture they went through in the
hands of Myanmar army, there is no shame in taking off the veils, they say. They want the Myanmar government’s narrative
unmasked in front of the world
SHAFIUR RAHMAN
More than a dozen young women,
some as young as 14, took off their
niqab declaring their dignity had
been taken by the Myanmar Army
while sharing their stories of murder
and rape with Bangladesh-origin
documentary film maker Shafiur
Rahman.
They also described to the UKbased
film maker how they had
been shamed and abused in front
of their families and communities
during the army’s four-month-long
“clearance operations” in Rohingya-dominated
Rakhine State.
Many of the women had their
family members, including babies
and young children, butchered in
front of them.
They argued that they saw no
reason now to hide their faces
when it came to telling the world
what happened to their homes and
loved ones in Myanmar.
Shafiur recorded the testimonies
in December and January
from registered and unregistered
refugee settlements in
Ukhiya and Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar,
where over 70,000 Rohingya
Muslims have taken shelter since
October.
In a 9:53-minute video, the
women disclose to the world the
horrendous stories which Shafiur
later uploaded in an online
platform.
In early January 2017, the Aung
San Suu Kyi-led government surprisingly
took action against soldiers
who had been depicted on
video beating up members of a
Rohingya family. An investigation
was announced regarding the
specific case.
No investigations had previously
been announced to hold individual
soldiers or officers to account
despite scores of far more serious
allegations of widespread murder,
burnings and rape of the Rohingyas
in Rakhine State.
Tellingly, the government-appointed
Rakhine State investigation
commission has been labelled
a “whitewash” by human rights organisations.
“In this context, the testimonies
of these Rohingya women who
have come to Bangladesh point to
continued sex crimes and killings
in Rakhine State perpetrated by the
Myanmar security forces,” Shafiur
describes.
In early February, a UN report
detailed “devastating cruelty
against Rohingya children,
women and men.” Based on over
200 interviews, the report was
introduced thus in an OHCHR
news bulletin: “Mass gang-rape,
killings – including of babies and
young children, brutal beatings,
disappearances and other serious
human rights violations by
Myanmar’s security forces in a
sealed-off area north of Maungdaw
in northern Rakhine State have
been detailed in a new UN report
issued Friday based on interviews
with victims across the border in
Bangladesh.”
The persecution of the Rohingyas
in Myanmar is not a new development.
As has been argued
by many, most recently by Azeem
Ibrahim in his book “The Rohingyas
– Inside Myanmar’s Hidden
Genocide” (2016), the reality the
Rohingyas are facing is the threat
of a genocide.
As recent arrivals, these women
and their families would not be
registered by the Bangladesh government,
Shafiur says.
“They face an uncertain future
like other unregistered Rohingyas.
Begging, depending on aid and potentially
becoming victims of trafficking.
They will receive no psychological
support for the traumas
they experienced,” he adds.
Already a virulent anti-
Rohingya sentiment has taken
hold in some parts in southern
Bangladesh. Rohingyas, it is
claimed, are involved in all forms
of crime including theft, drugs and
terrorism.
Other allegations say Rohingyas
apparently cause environmental
destruction, and they run off with
Bangladeshi women. The list of allegations
is long.
“Indeed I spoke to individuals
who said the Rohingyas must
have brought Burmese wrath
upon themselves by engaging in
disreputable behaviour,” the film
maker says.
Driving in the environs of Ukhiya,
“one can’t help but notice the
presence of women, infants, children
and elderly men sitting by
the roadside throughout the day
and even late at night. The children
sit obediently by their guardians
and sometimes appear dazed
or lethargic.
“They stretch out their hands as
cars and other vehicles drive past
them. These are the recent arrivals
to Bangladesh – driven out by the
murderous mayhem initiated in
Myanmar last year.”
Their high visibility has sadly
not engendered empathy and solidarity
with the Rohingya people
amongst the locals. “Instead, it
has resulted in many Bangladeshis
welcoming astonishing reports
that the government of Bangladesh
is considering moving the Rohingyas
to a remote island called Hatia
in Noakhali.” •
Shajahan backs wildcat transport strike in
Khulna division for convict’s release
• Shohel Mamun
With an indefinite transport strike
expanded to ten districts of Khulna
protesting bus driver Jamir
Hossain’s jail term over Filmmaker
Tareque Masud and Cinematographer
Mishuk Muiner and three
others’ death, the government until
late yesterday night could not
take any action to help stop it.
However, Shipping Minister
Shajahan Khan defended the strike
saying: “They [transport workers]
can do so [enforce strike].”
Shajahan, also executive president
of the Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan
Sramik Federation, made
the statement at a press conference
in Dhaka earlier the same day.
“If anyone is aggrieved, he or
she has the right to call a strike.
Hence, transport workers just followed
the method,” he said.
When asked if the government
will take any immediate action to
resolve the crisis, he did not reply,
but asked the transport workers
not to violate laws while in strike.
The regional committee of the
transport workers’ platform first
enforced the wildcat strike only
in Chudanga on Wednesday, the
same day when a Manikganj court
sentenced bus driver Jamir to life
in prison over the deaths in a fatal
road crash in 2011.
The strike, which already caused
immense sufferings to commuters
in Chuadanga, started adding to the
woes of people from the nine other
districts in the division.
Meanwhile, Road Transport
and Bridges Minister Obaidul
Quader during a mobile court
drive near the High Court admitted
public sufferings due to the
strike and termed the strike unacceptable.
He suggested that transport
leaders move the High Court instead
of protesting against a verdict
since a strike would not bring
a solution to their demand of releasing
the convict.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority
yesterday held a meeting
where they discussed the strike,
but it failed to come up with any
action in this regard, while transport
leaders declared that they
would spread the strike across the
country if Jamir was not freed.
It is worth mentioning that
Wednesday’s verdict was the highest
punishment for road accident
in the country, which garnered
much appreciation from experts
since road mishaps claim hundreds
of lives in Bangladesh annually. •