As reported by the Guardian and several media, Britain raised the subject of the plight of Rohingya Muslims during meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmar’s new government, during her recent visit to Britain. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson welcomed the establishment of the Rakhine Commission, led by the former UN Chief Kofi Annan to examine the conflict between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya in Myanmar, describing it as an important step in beginning to tackle the “desperate situation” of the Rohingya. Annan was entrusted to lead this government-appointed commission by Aung San Suu Kyi who has been silent on the brutal treatment and systematic persecution of the Rohingya.
Indeed, her National League for Democracy spokesman, stated just days after the party clinched victory in last year’s elections, that helping the persecuted Muslim minority was not a priority. He also echoed the stance of the previous military-backed government by suggesting that the Rohingya were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. This is a reflection of how this commission, whose role is restricted to issuing futile advice, will achieve nothing for Rohingya women and children, and is simply a cynical move and PR stunt by Suu Kyi and her government to be seen to be doing something about the appalling conditions facing this Muslim minority. Indeed, Annan conceded to the futility of this initiative when he stated in a press conference in Yangon on Thursday 8th September that he would not police human rights violations. He said, “We are not here as inspectors, as policemen.”
Rohingya women and children are in no need of impotent politically-motivated commissions which do nothing but document (if even that!) their well-known longstanding inhumane treatment and living conditions. This Ummah has reached its limit of despair with missions, commissions, and investigations – from Myanmar to Syria, Palestine to Central Africa – whether performed by governments, the UN, or other organisations. It represents a deceptive illusion of caring for and bringing justice and hope to the oppressed. In reality however, they simply provide body counts of victims of mass murder, and issue powerless condemnatory statements, while offering no credible solutions or undertaking any meaningful actions to end the slaughter and suffering. Today, the Rohingya continue to be persecuted and ‘stateless’, having been denied citizenship status in Myanmar and other neighbouring countries, including Muslim-majority ones such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia. More than 140,000 languish in the most appalling, overcrowded, squalid camps for the internally displaced which are ridden with malnutrition and disease, and from which they are prohibited to leave and denied the most basic rights and services such as healthcare and education. Last year a study by the International State Crime Initiative at Queen Mary’s University in London stated that, “The Rohingya face the final stages of genocide,” and that they were on the verge of “mass annihilation”. The UN itself has proven through itself to be an utterly redundant and dysfunctional body with a legacy of failure in protecting the Rohingya and other oppressed Muslims. Infact recently its World Food Programme has even decided to cut food aid to some internally displaced people’s camps in the Rakhine state.
All this is surely evidence enough that the current democratic world-order is unable and unwilling to protect the Rohingya Muslim women and children and other oppressed Muslims across the globe. It is surely proof enough for Muslims that we can never put our trust in non-Islamic bodies, organisations or governments to deliver for us justice and security. What Rohingya women and children need desperately is the Islamic leadership of the Khilafah (Caliphate) based on the method of the Prophethood which alone will guarantee the protection of their life, all their God-given rights, and a dignified future that is free from fear and oppression. Placing hope or efforts on anything other than the urgent re-establishment of this state will only prolong the despair and suffering of all oppressed Muslims across the world. Allah سبحانه وتعالى said,
مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَوْلِيَاءَ كَمَثَلِ الْعَنكَبُوتِ اتَّخَذَتْ بَيْتًا وَإِنَّ أَوْهَنَ الْبُيُوتِ لَبَيْتُ الْعَنْكَبُوتِ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
“The likeness of those who take protectors other than Allah is as the likeness of a spider, who builds (for itself) a house, but verily, the frailest of houses is the spider’s house; if they but knew.”
(29: 41)
Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
Sunday, 16th Dhul Hijjah 1437 AH
18/09/2016 CE
Issue No: 1437 AH / 059