A layman's guide to India's position on Rohingyas' problem

I. Who  Are Rohingyas?

1. Rohingyas are believed to be people of  Indo Aryan Ethnicity settled in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. Historically, they were also known as Arakanese Indians and have been living in Myanmar for twelve hundred years at least. The majority of them are Muslims.There is a minuscule Hindu minority as well. According to the United Nations, Rohingya are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.
2. The Myanmar Nationality law, 1982, which grants citizenship only to Burmese ethnic races denied them citizenship. These people suffer restricted freedom of movement having virtually no access to state education and civil service jobs. In fact what Rohingyas face in Myanmar today is no less than the crime of apartheid practised by South Africa earlier.

II. Why are  Rohingyas in the news in India today?

1. Currently, the Supreme Court of India is considering the issue of deportation of Rohingyas from India. Many Indian liberals quote UNHCR Refugee Convention more particularly, the migrant's right to non-refoulment. The Union of India has taken the view that these people are illegal migrants to India. Since a good lot of them are Muslims who suffered persecution, they may, if not today, at some time in future, would become a fertile recruiting ground for Al Qaeda and ISIS. 
2. Supreme Court of India will have its last word and hopefully decide (!!!)

i)                  Whether they are illegal immigrants to India?

ii)        Even if they are illegal immigrants, will any of them qualify for asylum or at least Refugee Status?

(iii)     If they are going to be deported back where will they go ?  The State of Myanmar has disowned its obligation to accommodate them in view of the fact that Rohingyas are not one of the 8 Burmese national ethnic groups recognized by Myanmar Government? 

3. Incidentally, the State of Myanmar is not known as a benevolent minority friendly country despite their state religion being Buddhism.  In fact, during the earlier decades military oppression dissidents a good number of ethnic Burmese took refuge in India due to the benevolent attitude of people like George Fernandez,  who virtually converted his onetime official residence into a sanctuary for ethnic Burmese dissidents.   These people today enjoy a semblance of political power in Burma today, albeit under the watchful eyes of the Burmese army which is believed to be under the control of China.

III. What is the demography of Burma and Rohingyas?

Burma in 2010 had a population of 55 million of which 90% profess Theravada Buddhism, 4 % Christianity,  4 % Islam, 1% Hinduism and the rest following Mahayana Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism and Animism. In comparison, Rohingyas are about one million people living in Burma another 400 thousand living in Bangladesh and  400 thousand living in Saudi Arabia.

IV. What is the History of Rohingyas ?

Many believe that Rohingyas are basically fishermen who settled in the Rakhine State , located in the western region of Burma. But a few of them claim Arab descent though lingustically they are Bengalies.  Today there they constitute around 30 % of the Rakhine population. In 1910, they were just 10 to 20 % of the population. They have been described as the "Most Friendless People" in the world. Even Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Laureate who fought a successful political battle to minimise the power of the Burmese Army in national governance has been surprisingly silent and has chosen to act locally despite having a global vision and support.

V. Should Rohingyas be given refugee status in India?

1. India has not ratified the UNHCR Convention for Refugees . It is common knowledge that India's population has more than doubled since its independence. As opposed to the Western European countries including USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand,  India faces problems because of the growing population. Hence it cannot be as hospitable and welcoming as it has been in the past. Among the South Asian Countries, irrespective of India's position in the world development index, conditions in India are reasonably more congenial for responsible human beings to achieve their full potential in comparison with its South Asian peers. Traditionally, India has been welcoming foreigners without regard to their ethnicity or religion. It is a recorded fact in history that India is the only country in the world where there was no anti sematicism .  But off late, India has its own quota of refugees problem.The Liberation of Bangladesh didn't stop the illegal immigration from East Pakistan. The demographic pattern of many of the North Eastern states had changed completely. Because of the increased awareness about the refugee problem in Assam and other North Eastern states, now belive  many of the recent entrants are immigrants for economic reasons rather than refugees suffering persecution. In fact, today you can spot East Bengali migrants (mostly Muslims and miniscule number of Hindus) all over India. Since many of them speak Bengali , it  is not been difficult for them to mingle with the rest of Indian population. Actually, the left-leaning  governments of West Bengal,  Tripura and some of the North Eastern states used them as a dependable vote banks which meant that many of them are now Indian citizens. .It is against this trend,  that the All Assam Students Union started their Anti-Foreigner agitation and the Union government was compelled to constituted Tribunals to determine the illegal migrants and deport them back to Bangladesh.  Naturally, Bangladesh disowns any obligations to receive them back.
2.  South India received  Refugees from Srilanka  in the last 5 decades. Soon after Sirimavo-Shastri pact was signed during late 50s and early sixties, India received and rehabilitated Central SriLankan Plantation Tamils. After 1980s,  due to the conflict between SriLankan army and the LTTE, large numbers of Refugees came to India. Some of these refugees were hardcore militants who in fact introduced the gun and bomb culture in Tamilnadu in a more prominent way. Madras Airport in Tamilnadu suffered a major bomb blast and now we know for sure that it is the LTTE that killed our former Prime Minister. 
3. So, if today the Union of India, in its wisdom, believe that these Rohingyas should not be given a refugee status and they must be deported to the place from which they came from  such a decision should not attract public criticism because increased flow of Refugees carries with it the problems of crime, including terrorism, drug and human trafficking. The liberals in India site that, in the past, notwithstanding India's non-membership of UNHCR  Refugee convention, it has been liberal in allowing Bengali, Tamil, Burmese, Afghan and Nepali refugees to stay in India. Similar benefits should normally be extended to Rohingyas. But this argument is incorrect because Rohingyas do not enter India through the Indo Burmese border and many of them start their journey to India after staying in Bangladesh for a reasonable time. Hence these people are not refugees escaping persecution but migrants for economic reasons.While charity may compel us to accept refugees from nieighbourhood , such a logic cannot be extended to nieghbour's neihghbour. 

VI. Who can actually solve the problem? Does India have a role in arriving at a just solution?

1.  In the recent past,  in response to the Myanmar military crackdown, some of the Muslim nations are supporting Rohingyas in seeking  a  separate country for Rohingyas. Recently, the traditional Bengali script of the Rohingyas language is being replaced by a new Hanifi script. This Hanifi script draws extensively from Arabic in addition to Burmese, Greek and Latin. So the inflence of Wahabi Islam in Rakine is palpable. 
2.  Infact during 1940s Rohingyas Muslims organised a separatist movement to merge their region with East Pakistan. There was also a North Arakan Muslim league in Rakhine State. The Proposal was not accepted as Mr Jinnah felt that he cannot interfere in Burmese affairs the Union of India takes a similar view now,  it is indeed realistic and correct. From 1947 there has been a Jihad waged by Mujahid party. There are a lot of native Rakhine people who believe that significant numbers came from Bangladesh after 1980 when the border was relatively unguarded. Considering Bangladesh's overpopulation and their success as illegal migrants, many native Rakhine people perceive Rohingyas as "the Vanguard of unstoppable wave of people that will inevitably engulf Rakhine ". Since 2010 there have been 3 serious riots and refugees crises . 
3.  The recent problem started in 2012 which resulted in 2015 Refugee Crisis. Many of them migrated to Malaysia , Indonesia and Thailand. Naturally, because of its proximity, Bangladesh also received many Rohingyas. This Refugees Crisis resulted in 2016-17  armed conflict which caused the death 9 Border Police Officers and  4 of the Burmese soldiers within 3 days of the commencement of violence. Shortly thereafter, Burmese military forces started a major campaign which included extrajudicial killings, gang rapes other brutalities. Recently, Myanmar authorities have claimed that this terrorist didn't even spare Hindu Rohingyas. However, this claim of the Myanmar army has to be taken with a pinch of salt as Myanmar in the past has not been a secular democratic or welfare state that respects the rights of minorities. 
4.  Hence, in these circumstances the Rohingyas in Bangladesh, Thailand Indonesia and India, do not want to go back to Burma where they claim persecution because they are Muslims. Then, naturally, the Muslim countries around the world should provide them right of residence and determine the conditions under which the Rohingyas can acquire the local nationality. In fact,  Saudi  Arabia has accepted about 400 thousand Rohingyas in their territory. Malaysia has also been generous to them.  Other Muslim countries like Pakistan,  that do not have a serious population problem should follow Saudi Arabian lead and provide right of residence, if not citizenship . In other words, it is not India’s  problem.

5. In fact, if there is any one country that can bring about a solution to this problem, it is the People’s Republic of China. China’s recent past indicates that they are the only supporters of the rogue states of the world. Burma is China’ neighbour and its major trading partner. China in the past has also supported other totalitarian genocidal regimes in Cambodia. Today North Korea is able to withstand global sanctions because of China’s support. Probably because of these factors, Pakistan is contemplating becoming an  of satellite state of China and so that can continue with its totalitarian barbarian system of governance despite opposition from rest of the world. Hence both SAARC and BRICS nations in a coordinated manner to take up the issue of Rohingyas' statelessness with the government of  Myanmar and persuade Myanmar to be reasonable with Rohingyas and settle the Rohingyas statelessness problem by accepting at least a part of Rohinyas as their citizens. Rehabilof someof  some of the Rohingyas in other parts of the world is a reality.  In fact, China has also a vested interest in ensuring a fair solution to the problem because at least 3 % of the Myanmar population is of Chinese ethnicity , they too have been denied citizenship.  Indian influence with the government of Myanmar is not even sufficient to deter the Myanmar army from providing safe sanctuary to the Militant North-Eastern Armed Rebels. In other words, despite being a tall nation in South Asia today, India should know that it doesn't have the required economic or political clout to bring about a just solution to the Rohingyas problem . This issue will have to addressed primarily by the  Muslim nations  and China with support from the liberal international community.