Rohingya people in Myanmar: what you need to know

Who are the Rohingya?

The Rohingya are an ethnic minority in Myanmar, which originates from the Indian sub
continent. For several centuries they have lived predominantly in Myanmar's western state of
Rakhine - also known as Arakan. They are predominately Muslim.

When did the conflict take a violent turn?

In 2012, clashes between the Rohingya and Buddhist nationalists led to scores of deaths, forcing
tens of thousands of Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Some
200,000 people - mostly Rohingya - have been living in camps in Rakhine since the 2012 clashes.

In October last year, Rohingya militants attacked several security checkpoints and killed scores of
police officers. Myanmar's security forces responded by launching counter-terrorism operations
against insurgents. Human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International, said these operations involved arbitrary killings, systematic rapes, the burning of
houses and forced expulsions of locals.

According to the UN, around 87,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh following the start of the
October violence. The numbers do not include the most recent Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh.

When did the new wave of violence erupt?

On August 25, violence broke out in Rakhine when around 100 armed Muslim insurgents
attacked security guards in the border region with Bangladesh. Myanmar's security forces and
Muslim minority Rohingya militants accuse each other of burning down villages and staging
mass killings.

Nearly 400 people have been killed, the majority of them insurgents, according to defense
officials. The sectarian violence, the worst in years, has forced thousands of people to take refuge
in neighboring Bangladesh.

"Roughly 60,000 have arrived in Bangladesh since the violence erupted on August 25," said
UNHCR spokeswoman Vivian Tan on September 2.

Why is Bangladesh taking a hardline against Rohingya refugees?

Bangladeshi authorities have taken a hard line with Rohingya refugees, attempting to limit their
numbers in their country.

What is Nobel peace laureate, Aung SanSuu Kyi, saying about the Rohingya?

TMyanmar's Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has criticised Rohingya "terrorists" for
spreading "a huge iceberg of misinformation" about the current crisis.
Last week, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijijumade India's stand on
deportation of Rohingya Muslims clear.

"I want to tell the international organisations whether the Rohingyas are registered under the
United Nations Human Rights Commission or not, they are illegal immigrants in India," said
Rijiju, adding that they stand to be deported.

Rijiju's comments came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Nay Pyi Taw,
the capital of Myanmar, to start his two-day visit to the country.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed concern over the violence in Rakhine state
during his address in Myanmar, India later called for "restraint" by the country's government.

"India remains deeply concerned about the situation in Rakhine state in Myanmar and the outflow
of refugees from that region," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

INDIA RAISES SECURITY CONCERN

Today, a top United Nations official, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein slammed India for taking measures to
"deport Rohingyas at a time of such violence against them in their country".

According to the UN office in Bangladesh, more than 3 lakh Rohingyas have fled into
Bangladesh from Myanmar since violence broke out in Rakhine on August 25.

In India, nearly 40,000 Rohingya Muslims are staying illegally while another 14,000 have been
registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Majority of
these illegal Rohinya immigrants have settled in Jammu, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Hyderabad,
Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.

The Centre has said that illegal immigrants like Rohingyas pose grave security challenges as they
could be recruited by terror groups and directed states to identify them and subsequently deport
them.

NOT BOUND BY UNITED NATIONS

As international organisations call on India to not deport Rohingyas, India can back its stand on
deportation by stating that it is neither a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention of the UN nor
did it sign its 1967 Protocol. In total, 148 countries have signed either of the two protocols that
clarify the rights of refugees and help protect them.

As late as May this year, India had not ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture
despite being a signatory to the convention in October 1997.

The Article 3 of the Convention against Torture states that "no party shall expel, return (refouler)
or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he
would be in danger of being subjected to torture".

It further says that "for the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent
authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the
existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of
human rights".

India, however, is yet to make a law on the same to ratify the convention.