Papers by Iqthyer U M Zahed
Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism
This article explores the consequences of the recent military coup in Myanmar for the Rohingya cr... more This article explores the consequences of the recent military coup in Myanmar for the Rohingya crisis. Data from seven semi‐structured interviews were collected from academic and Rohingya leaders in the Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane. The findings suggest that the regime change that has taken place will not resolve the Rohingya crisis unless the Myanmar government moves away from its current anti‐Rohingya, religious nationalism policy agenda. A military coup on 1 February 2021 overthrew the relatively new democratic government in Myanmar. The anti‐military movement now faces the military’s brutal force for restoring democracy in the country. The elected parliament members established an interim National Unity Government (NUG) to lead anti‐military protests. Regarding the military junta and NUG’s strategy concerning the Rohingya crisis, both aim to get international support for their endeavours. The Rohingya became a sacrificial lamb for both of these competitors. The Rohin...
After more than half a century of military rule in Myanmar, a democratic transition started in 20... more After more than half a century of military rule in Myanmar, a democratic transition started in 2011. General Thein Sein established a civilian government from 2011 to 2016, and then in 2016 Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the 'father of the nation', came to power. But Suu Kyi's government had to share power with the military, as the constitution provided them vital privileges. Subsequently, following brutal actions against the Rohingya ethnoreligious group during Suu Kyi's tenure, the international community accused her government of doing nothing to stop ethnic cleansing and genocide. This article examines why Aung San Suu Kyi, as leader of a fledgling democracy, failed to protect the Rohingya from ethnic cleansing. The arguments centre on the countrywide anti-Rohingya sentiment, Myanmar's unstable democracy, Suu Kyi's election process, the power imbalance between military and civilian governments and Suu Kyi's policy tilt towards the military, and how these factors contributed to ethnic cleansing and genocide. Michael Mann's theory on the 'dark side' of democracy, here applied to Myanmar's democracy under Aung San Suu Kyi, examines how it connects with repression, ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Rohingya minority. KEYWORDS Aung San Suu Kyi; Rohingya; ethnic cleansing; genocide; dark side of democracy; Myanmar 'genuine, disciplined multi-party democratic system' in March 2011 (Huang 2017), which was ultimately a military government with a cabinet full of active and retired army officers. Following the landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in the 2015 election, a quasi-democratic government was established, sharing power with the military. It was widely believed that democracy was the winner for a political transition in Myanmar, but it did not last long, as in February 2021 General Aung Min Hlaing led another coup d'état. Aung San Suu Kyi entered politics with the privilege of her father's name, declaring the 'second struggle for national independence' in her famous Shwedagon speech in
Politics, Religion & Ideology, 2021
The Rohingya crisis of Myanmar is a longstanding geopolitical predicament that has remained unres... more The Rohingya crisis of Myanmar is a longstanding geopolitical predicament that has remained unresolved for 42 years, since 1978. Many of the stateless, and now stranded, Rohingya have been driven out of Myanmar to take refuge in other countries or forced to live in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps within the state of Rakhine. ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) attacks became an automatic excuse for genocidal activities against Rohingyas at the hands of the Myanmar government. ARSA attacks and communal violence in Rakhine both served the Myanmar government’s objective, providing justification for acts of violent retaliation. This paper examines root causes of Rohingya exile and displacement. The researcher collected data from 20 expert participants in Bangladesh and 71 displaced Rohingya victims living in the Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp within Bangladesh. These data indicate the interaction of various factors, including historical legacy of conflict, religious dissens...
IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 2013
This paper explores the struggle of indigenous people for their ethnic identity and conflict with... more This paper explores the struggle of indigenous people for their ethnic identity and conflict with Bangladesh government. The indigenous community was persecuted and deprived of human rights, basic needs from the British colonial periods. Internal displacement of aboriginals was started by the Pakistan government and continued till 1997.Land grabbing, Bengali settlement, internal displacements, ethnic non recognition in constitution of country, militarization of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and others issues made the indigenous people revolutionary and ultimately force them to demand autonomy of CHT. The conflicts between indigenous people and government came to end after signing Peace Accord of CHT in 1997 but non implementation of this incites the conflicts again what is being continued till now.
Asian Affairs
ABSTRACT The United Nations embraced the doctrine of “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) in 2005, w... more ABSTRACT The United Nations embraced the doctrine of “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) in 2005, which states that it is a shared responsibility of the international community to protect peoples from the atrocities of war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. Regarding Myanmar, the UN Human Rights Council claimed there were gross violations of human rights and international law in Myanmar's Rakhine state. Also, the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission found evidence of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, and accordingly requested that the international community employ R2P to protect the Rohingya people. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights acknowledged the clearance operation that occurred on 25 August 2017 at the hands of the Myanmar military regime was a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. In spite of this, the international community has taken no effective measures to protect the Rohingya community from what was an “entirely predictable” act of genocide. This paper is a qualitative investigation, a review of possible strategic reasons for why the international community has failed to protect the Rohingya. The paper relies on secondary scholarly literature, policy records, UN, government, and NGO reports, grey literature sources, and online materials. ASEAN's non-interference strategy, the OIC's dependency on diplomacy, the EU's priority for the hybrid democratic transition of Myanmar, the UN's political dialogue strategy, and the UN Security Council's structural weaknesses are obstacles to the international community preventing genocide in Myanmar. This study contributes to understanding the strategies of ASEAN, OIC, EU, UN, ICC, and the ICJ in relation to the Rohingya issue. It examines the chances of these organisations championing R2P, and also considers whether the Rohingya crisis is too intractable or difficult to resolve under current arrangements.
Bangladesh took her place in world map as a sovereign country after nine months long war against ... more Bangladesh took her place in world map as a sovereign country after nine months long war against Pakistani army government. There were many countries involved in the Liberation war of Bangladesh. United States made their policy in East Pakistan crisis to making happy Yahya khan, the president of Pakistan. By using this policy they wanted to rebuilt relationship with China, controlling Muslim countries of Middle East, Pakistan was the country by what they can implement their policy. But the involvement of Soviet Union with India made difficult situation for USA.
Asian Affairs, 2021
The United Nations embraced the doctrine of “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) in 2005, which stat... more The United Nations embraced the doctrine of “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) in 2005, which states that it is a shared responsibility of the international community to protect peoples from the atrocities of war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. Regarding Myanmar, the UN Human Rights Council claimed there were gross violations of human rights and international law in Myanmar's Rakhine state. Also, the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission found evidence of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, and accordingly requested that the international community employ R2P to protect the Rohingya people. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights acknowledged the clearance operation that occurred on 25 August 2017 at the hands of the Myanmar military regime was a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. In spite of this, the international community has taken no effective measures to protect the Rohingya community from what was an “entirely predictable” act of genocide. This paper is a qualitative investigation, a review of possible strategic reasons for why the international community has failed to protect the Rohingya. The paper relies on secondary scholarly literature, policy records, UN, government, and NGO reports, grey literature sources, and online materials. ASEAN's non-interference strategy, the OIC's dependency on diplomacy, the EU's priority for the hybrid democratic transition of Myanmar, the UN's political dialogue strategy, and the UN Security Council's structural weaknesses are obstacles to the international community preventing genocide in Myanmar. This study contributes to understanding the strategies of ASEAN, OIC, EU, UN, ICC, and the ICJ in relation to the Rohingya issue. It examines the chances of these organisations championing R2P, and also considers whether the Rohingya crisis is too intractable or difficult to resolve under current arrangements.
Politics, Religion & Ideology, 2021
The Rohingya crisis of Myanmar is a longstanding geopolitical
predicament that has remained unres... more The Rohingya crisis of Myanmar is a longstanding geopolitical
predicament that has remained unresolved for 42 years, since
1978. Many of the stateless, and now stranded, Rohingya have
been driven out of Myanmar to take refuge in other countries or
forced to live in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps within
the state of Rakhine. ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army)
attacks became an automatic excuse for genocidal activities
against Rohingyas at the hands of the Myanmar government.
ARSA attacks and communal violence in Rakhine both served the
Myanmar government’s objective, providing justification for acts
of violent retaliation. This paper examines root causes of Rohingya
exile and displacement. The researcher collected data from 20
expert participants in Bangladesh and 71 displaced Rohingya
victims living in the Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp within
Bangladesh. These data indicate the interaction of various factors,
including historical legacy of conflict, religious dissension, racism,
lack of social integration of Rohingyas into the mainstream
Burmese community, geo-economic factors, discriminatory state
policy and conflict politics of ARSA, all of which contribute to what
has become the Rohingya crisis. The paper discusses theoretical
and practical implications of these interacting influences.
Global Change, Peace & Security
Australian Outlook, Australian Institute of International Affairs, 2021
Would there be any difference in the treatment of Rohingya populations if a military government o... more Would there be any difference in the treatment of Rohingya populations if a military government or civilian government ran the state? With Rohingya repatriation serving as a flashpoint of the Myanmar coup, invoking global responsibility to protect this population seems long overdue.
Australian Outlook, 2020
Bangladesh has invested hundredsof millions of dollars to relocate Rohingya refugees from Cox's B... more Bangladesh has invested hundredsof millions of dollars to relocate Rohingya refugees from Cox's Bazaar to Bhasan CharIslandin the Bay of Bengal. It remains to be seen whetherthis relocation will be forced or voluntary. The most persecuted people in the world, the Rohingya have been drivenout from their country by different military clearance operations and, most recently, a genocide in 2017. About 1.2 million Rohingya people have been living in two campsspread over just 26 square kilometers of land in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh. They are living in extremely precarious conditions in the camps, which are overpopulated, chaotic, clumsy, and sprawling.
This paper explores the struggle of indigenous people for their ethnic identity and conflict with... more This paper explores the struggle of indigenous people for their ethnic identity and conflict with Bangladesh government. The indigenous community was persecuted and deprived of human rights, basic needs from the British colonial periods. Internal displacement of aboriginals was started by the Pakistan government and continued till 1997.Land grabbing, Bengali settlement, internal displacements, ethnic non recognition in constitution of country, militarization of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and others issues made the indigenous people revolutionary and ultimately force them to demand autonomy of CHT. The conflicts between indigenous people and government came to end after signing Peace Accord of CHT in 1997 but non implementation of this incites the conflicts again what is being continued till now.
International Journal of Advanced Research, 2013
Many people become refugee during communal riot of 1947 in India who
ultimately took shelter in E... more Many people become refugee during communal riot of 1947 in India who
ultimately took shelter in East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh. Those "Urdu Speaking‟ refugees came from Bihar, Uttor Pradesh, Mahyndra Pradesh and Rajstan of India. They have known as Bihari as most of them came from Bihar province of India. The West Pakistani ruler welcomed them in East Pakistan due to their having similarity of religion, language and culture. They received citizenship of Pakistan and patrons in profession by government. They engaged themselves in Language movement (1952), liberation war (1971) in favor of Pakistan and against the interest of East Pakistan. After victory in 1971, Bangladesh did not recognize them as citizen of the state. And since then those people became stateless refugee. There is a huge controversy of their refugee status and they are stranded form their old
country; Pakistan, and became alien in Bangladesh. In this paper, a
theoretical analysis has been done to give a deep insight about the real status of Biharis in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh took her place in world map as a sovereign country after nine months long war against ... more Bangladesh took her place in world map as a sovereign country after nine months long war against Pakistani army government. There were many countries involved in the Liberation war of Bangladesh. United States made their policy in East Pakistan crisis to making happy Yahya khan, the president of Pakistan. By using this policy they wanted to rebuilt relationship with China, controlling Muslim countries of Middle East, Pakistan was the country by what they can implement their policy. But the involvement of Soviet Union with India made difficult situation for USA.
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Papers by Iqthyer U M Zahed
predicament that has remained unresolved for 42 years, since
1978. Many of the stateless, and now stranded, Rohingya have
been driven out of Myanmar to take refuge in other countries or
forced to live in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps within
the state of Rakhine. ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army)
attacks became an automatic excuse for genocidal activities
against Rohingyas at the hands of the Myanmar government.
ARSA attacks and communal violence in Rakhine both served the
Myanmar government’s objective, providing justification for acts
of violent retaliation. This paper examines root causes of Rohingya
exile and displacement. The researcher collected data from 20
expert participants in Bangladesh and 71 displaced Rohingya
victims living in the Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp within
Bangladesh. These data indicate the interaction of various factors,
including historical legacy of conflict, religious dissension, racism,
lack of social integration of Rohingyas into the mainstream
Burmese community, geo-economic factors, discriminatory state
policy and conflict politics of ARSA, all of which contribute to what
has become the Rohingya crisis. The paper discusses theoretical
and practical implications of these interacting influences.
ultimately took shelter in East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh. Those "Urdu Speaking‟ refugees came from Bihar, Uttor Pradesh, Mahyndra Pradesh and Rajstan of India. They have known as Bihari as most of them came from Bihar province of India. The West Pakistani ruler welcomed them in East Pakistan due to their having similarity of religion, language and culture. They received citizenship of Pakistan and patrons in profession by government. They engaged themselves in Language movement (1952), liberation war (1971) in favor of Pakistan and against the interest of East Pakistan. After victory in 1971, Bangladesh did not recognize them as citizen of the state. And since then those people became stateless refugee. There is a huge controversy of their refugee status and they are stranded form their old
country; Pakistan, and became alien in Bangladesh. In this paper, a
theoretical analysis has been done to give a deep insight about the real status of Biharis in Bangladesh.
predicament that has remained unresolved for 42 years, since
1978. Many of the stateless, and now stranded, Rohingya have
been driven out of Myanmar to take refuge in other countries or
forced to live in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps within
the state of Rakhine. ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army)
attacks became an automatic excuse for genocidal activities
against Rohingyas at the hands of the Myanmar government.
ARSA attacks and communal violence in Rakhine both served the
Myanmar government’s objective, providing justification for acts
of violent retaliation. This paper examines root causes of Rohingya
exile and displacement. The researcher collected data from 20
expert participants in Bangladesh and 71 displaced Rohingya
victims living in the Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp within
Bangladesh. These data indicate the interaction of various factors,
including historical legacy of conflict, religious dissension, racism,
lack of social integration of Rohingyas into the mainstream
Burmese community, geo-economic factors, discriminatory state
policy and conflict politics of ARSA, all of which contribute to what
has become the Rohingya crisis. The paper discusses theoretical
and practical implications of these interacting influences.
ultimately took shelter in East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh. Those "Urdu Speaking‟ refugees came from Bihar, Uttor Pradesh, Mahyndra Pradesh and Rajstan of India. They have known as Bihari as most of them came from Bihar province of India. The West Pakistani ruler welcomed them in East Pakistan due to their having similarity of religion, language and culture. They received citizenship of Pakistan and patrons in profession by government. They engaged themselves in Language movement (1952), liberation war (1971) in favor of Pakistan and against the interest of East Pakistan. After victory in 1971, Bangladesh did not recognize them as citizen of the state. And since then those people became stateless refugee. There is a huge controversy of their refugee status and they are stranded form their old
country; Pakistan, and became alien in Bangladesh. In this paper, a
theoretical analysis has been done to give a deep insight about the real status of Biharis in Bangladesh.