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by Shenali Waduge
(
November 16, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) When the US declares a country is of “national interest”
it should not be hard to guess the reasons why more so when President Obama
himself is to arrive in Burma to start an obvious “US enters Asia” drive on 19
November 2012. The US wishlist is also clear – it wants Burma to be “friends”
with India implying to distance from China, US wants Burma to close ties with
North Korea, it wants greater autonomy for the Rohingyas at the behest of Saudi
Arabia which given the militancy attached to the Rohingyas spells clear dangers
of what Burma is likely to face no sooner it shakes hands with the US.
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We must note that Burma is fighting to protect its Buddhist identity and other nations like Sri Lanka may soon face the same fate.
There
is so much more to lifting sanctions as Burmese find themselves analyzing the
situation far more than Burmese leaders and receiving Congress’s highest award,
Aung San Suu Kyi must know the examples of “democracy” that has prevailed in
other parts of the world to be cautious of exactly what Burma promises the US
when entire Asia realizes that the US has shifted its focus from the Middle
East towards Asia in an effort to encircle China. Are we to be witness to a
clash of civilizations!
The
colonial mission was to Christianize Africa and Asia through missionaries,
education and media. We know the extent of that success. From the situations in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Middle East and Sub-Saharan/Africa it is clear that the US
and allies are arming Islamic militant groups in order to reign down on these
nations using the UN doctrine of humanitarian intervention and the significance
to countries of Asia with Buddhist populations spells dangers for the future of
Buddhists and Buddhism. Where the showdown is likely to be between Evangelized
Asia and Islamic militants – for Buddhist this spells dangers for their
compassionate philosophy and the future of the Buddhist people in Asia.
Europe
is on its way to being Islamized. The fertility rate in the 31 nations of the
EU is just 1.38. However as a result of immigration – by 2051 France will be an
Islamic republic, by 2030 half of the population in The Netherlands will be
Muslim, by 2050 Germany will be a Muslim state. The 52m Muslims in Europe will
become 104Muslims in just 20 years.
US has
been molly coddling India to sign various military pacts and training programs,
US has increased its military presence in Asia, it has struck various military
deals with Australia – it is all but gearing for an eventual showdown with
China and it is nothing that China is not aware of.
But
spectator nations in Asia need to realize the importance of their geopolitical
location and must also be concerned about the effects of such a confrontation
that may eventually affect their citizens and possibly the future of their
nations as well.
Myanmar/Burma
is a Buddhist country with a population of 60m people. Myanmar borders 5
countries - China, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos. The Rakhine (Arakan)
area is 36,762 square kilometres with a population of 2,045,891 and 40% of it
is inhabited by the Rohingyas. Burma was formerly an entirely Buddhist nation
following unadulterated Theravada Buddhism but today Buddhists make up 89%,
Christians 4%, Muslims 4% and 3% (Hinduism and Bahai faith).
Rohingyas
There
is no historical evidence to show how or when the Rohingyas arrived in the
Rakhine (Arakan) area of Burma but we know they arrived from neighboring Bengal
(which included Bangladesh) as the Arakan areas were fertile. If the Rohingyas
originated from Bangladesh – they must return to Bangladesh and not attempt to
carve out a state in Burma.
The 1891
census reported Rohingyas in the Arakan area as less than 60,000 but the
population had climbed to close to 180,000 by 1911. As of 2012, there are said
to 800,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar. The projection of Rohingyas as “innocent
victims” gets damped by the formation of the Mujahid Party that supported jihad
extremism and further intensifies the need to look at the nature of the
objective of these Rohingyas to create a separate Muslim state in the Arakan
area. Not much prominence is given to this factor nor is there query as to why
Bangladesh consistently opposes providing shelter to Rohingyas if they were as
innocent as being internationally projected and we know how international NGOs
have been susceptible to funds that make them dilute their credibility by the
false statements they issue!
Burma
has been accused of committing human rights abuses by denying citizenship to
Rohingyas but little is said of the Rohingyas attempting to carve out a
separate state in the Arakan area while the rest of the small numbers of
Muslims that live in other areas of Burma live peacefully with the rest of the
Buddhists in Myanmar! Moreover the Rohingyas have formed militant movements –
the Arakan Rohingya National Organization, the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front
all setting out to carve out a state in the Rakhine area of Burma. No one is
willing to dispel the accusations that the Rohingyas are terrorists being
trained and instructed to carry out mayhem in Myanmar in order for the UN to
create another Kovoso – this is obviously the plan of US for Asia!
It was
in 1973 that Bangladesh used the Rohingyas to set up a Rohingya state with a
proxy Government in Myanmas’s Rakhine area. Can the CIA deny that it trained
the Rohingyas in the 1980s and 1990s nor can Al Qaeda deny links with the
Rohingyas which means plenty of monetary support from Saudi Arabia all in
cooperation with the CIA which the UN is well aware of.
When
Burma arrested 2 employees of UNHCR and WFP in July 2012 and sentenced them in
August 2012 for their complicity in manufacturing the violence between
Rohingyas and Burma Buddhists there were no UN panels or investigations
launched. It is an open secret that the UNHCR and the WFP are working on behalf
of foreign intelligence in Myanmar. The UN is well aware of the Rohingyas being
trained as mercenaries – the question is what is it doing about it?
If a
superpower such as the United States of America is showing surprised focus on
Burma by arranging President Obama’s first visit to a Buddhist nation and the
focus is on the Rohingyas and the Rakhine state it is because this region in
the Greater Mekong area is home to natural resources (oil an gas – with 2
projects on the pipeline which reduces Bangladesh’s access to both) and is the
perfect means of encircling China! Rohingyas and Buddhist Burmese are simply
pawns in a game played by superpowers assisted by the UN.
Rohingya
groups are in many countries like Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, UAE,
Palestine, Australia and Norway!
The
Rohingyas finds their roots in Bangladesh a country carved out by India in 1971
though not being a party to the UN Convention of the Refugees, Bangladesh is
not obligated to accept Rohingyas though 300,000 of them continue to live
amongst 160m Bangladeshi’s. Modern Bangladesh though predominately Muslim there
are enough of ancient inscriptions to prove Buddhism existed in Bangladesh with
many monasteries and over 6000 Buddhist monks coupled with the archaeological
excavations to show that Buddhism prevailed in Bangladesh far before it was
turned into an Islamic state. Presently there are over 1m Buddhists in
Bangladesh with Dhaka having 4 Buddhist temples but the obvious destruction and
targeting of Buddhists was made clear when 25,000 Muslims gathered to destroy
thousands of year old Buddhist artifacts, Buddhist homes, rare sculptures and
monasteries and one wonders whether intelligence outfits are at play to create
foul play.
It is
in examining US inroads into Asia that we cannot escape the role of India of
being Asian or pro-US in policy and action. India was a vast stretch of
territory that was consolidated and Christened as British India and encompassed
Southern Nepal, Assam, State of West Bengal and Eastern Pakistan. Assam too is
on its way to becoming a Muslim majority state which spells the need for India
to be concentrating on protecting its own borders that are being targeted from
all corners in another strategy to balkanize India using the very same divide
and rule policy used by the colonialists.
The
situation that is taking place is Burma has not had the support of the Buddhist
world as Burma deserves and Sri Lanka too is to be faulted for not taking the
lead Mrs. Bandaranaike took to ensure Sri Lanka remained a strong Buddhist
nation. Buddhism should never be afforded a ceremonial status as is happening
even in Sri Lanka to appease voters and donors. It is evident that nations are
being infiltrated by Islamic militants sponsored by intelligence agencies to
create turmoil and eventually promote Balkanizing of these nations using
religion. The versions are being misconstrued and manipulated by media who
today are entities paid to tell versions of their sponsors making Buddhist
nation’s victims of the media including Sri Lanka.
We must
note that Burma is fighting to protect its Buddhist identity and other nations
like Sri Lanka may soon face the same fate. Therefore the onus is on the rest
of the Buddhist world to come together to protect Buddhism and not allow it to
be destroyed any further. Asia equates to mean the power of Buddhism and that
is where Sri Lanka must take the lead and that is how Sri Lanka and Asia can
remain united.
Sri
Lanka’s diplomacy must be proactive using the soft tools it has before it yet
how far diplomacy is used effectively to carve out Sri Lanka’s role in the
Indian Ocean by the very person who sang hosannas for the 2002 ceasefire
agreement remains a big question mark and answers many questions as to why Sri
Lanka’s foreign diplomacy remains in lethargy.
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