Myanmar Army Grabbing Land Left by Fleeing Rohingya: Amnesty International

Multiple reports over the past few days say that Myanmar’s army is bulldozing houses, shops and schools on land belonging to Rohingya who have fled their villages in Rakhine, Myanmar. After the exodus of nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims from the country, Myanmar’s military is building bases where some of their homes and mosques once stood, Amnesty International said on Monday, citing new evidence from satellite imagery.

The Amnesty report published on Monday echoed previous ones by saying the remains of some of those villages - and some buildings not previously damaged - had been bulldozed.

“What we are seeing in Rakhine State is a land grab by the military on a dramatic scale,” Tirana Hassan, Amnesty’s crisis response director, said in a statement.“New bases are being erected to house the very same security forces that have committed crimes against humanity against Rohingya.”

At least four mosques that had not been wrecked by fire have been destroyed, or had their roofing or other materials removed, since late December, a time when significant conflict was not reported in the area, Amnesty said.

In one Rohingya village, satellite imagery showed buildings for a new border police post appearing next to where a recently demolished mosque had stood.

As well as rapid housing and road construction in the area, at least three new security facilities were under construction, the global human rights group said. In one case, Rohingya villagers who had remained in Myanmar were forcibly evicted to make way for a base, it said. Amnesty accuses the Myanmar government of militarizing Rakhine State at an alarming pace.

The construction of new roads and structures being built over burned Rohingya villages and land, make it extremely unlikely for the return of Rohingya to their villages and homes. “This makes the voluntary, safe and dignified return of Rohingya refugees an even more distant prospect. Not only are their homes gone, but the new construction is entrenching the already dehumanizing discrimination they have faced in Myanmar,” said Tirana Hassan added.

Amnesty has reported that even surrounding trees and other vegetation have been removed, rendering much of the landscape unrecognizable. This raises serious concerns that the authorities are destroying evidence of crimes against the Rohingya, which could hinder future investigations.

As of 2018, almost a million Rohingy have fled Myanmar and become refugees in neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, India and Thailand. The United Nations has called the rohingya crisis, the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 13, 2018 12:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).