Bulldozed Rohingya Villages Deepen Fears Myanmar Is Erasing History

Rasa - Aerial photos of Rakhine state emerged that appear to show several bulldozed Rohingya settlements, renewing accusations Myanmar is wiping out the homes and history of the Muslim minority.

News ID: 436392

Date: 13 February 2018 - 21:57

RNA - Rights activists have stressed that the systematic destruction of hundreds of villages, mosques and property is effectively rubbing out the Rohingya's ties to their ancestral lands, Channel News Asia reported.

The Muslim minority are not recognised as an ethnic group in Myanmar and have faced decades of persecution, while many fear the recent crackdown is a push to rid the country of the Rohingya for good.

New aerial pictures of Rakhine state appear to show several bulldozed settlements of the persecuted Rohingya people, giving rise to concerns that Myanmar is wiping out history of the Muslim minority.

The haunting photos, recently posted on the Twitter account of the European Union ambassador to Myanmar, Kristian Schmidt, show a scarred territory with large patches of leveled land.

Villages incinerated during the Myanmar military crackdown now appear to have been completely bulldozed, devoid of all structures and even trees.

"The Rohingyas are shocked to see their villages razed," Chris Lewa, head of the NGO the Arakan Project, which has worked for years with Rohingya in Rakhine state, said.

They fear the upcoming rainy season will further wash away any signs of their past lives, she added, stressing that "The Rohingya have the feeling that they (the military) are doing away with the last traces of their presence in the region".

Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed to repatriate the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled a recent army crackdown in Myanmar within a period of two years.

According to Fars News Agancy, nearly 700,000 of Myanmar's Muslim minority have fled across the border to Bangladesh since late August when the Myanmar army launched a sweeping crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Northern Rakhine state.

The UN has already described the Rohingya as the most persecuted community in the world, calling the situation in Rakhine similar to “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

The Myanmarese government, however, denies committing atrocities against the Rohingya people and has even rejected UN criticism for its “politicization and partiality.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra‘ad al-Hussein stressed that attacks on the Rohingya had been “well thought out and planned” and he had asked Myanmar’s de facto leader to do more to stop the military atrocities.

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