As US pressures Dhaka, Rohingya Crisis Looms on the Horizon

With the election approaching, Dhaka is busy greeting overseas delegates and observers. The overseas observers are all invariably urgent for a free and honest election. It seems a balanced purpose of the Westerners holding to their deep convictions of democracy and freedom. Nevertheless, the coverage is riddled with inconsistency and solely seems subordinate to the geostrategic targets. The esteemed values of democracy and freedom are usually not sacrosanct per se — reasonably solely seen from a slim geostrategic prism. 

Whereas the US is putting an excessive amount of consideration on the upcoming election, it’s lacking out on the pressing disaster within the area—the Rohingya disaster. The US’s dealing with of Myanmar was shambolic, with flimsy leverage on Myanmar. Reasonably, US’s diplomacy was targeted solely to stopgap measures, that neglected the regular worsening of the disaster. 

Myanmar is a classical instance of how Western emphasis on democracy might be so tenuous. The arbitrary seizure of energy in Myanmar—abandoning election outcomes didn’t miss the eagle eye of the USA. Absolutely, Myanmar holds all the trimmings of a rogue state prancing with its brutality on the coronary heart of South and Southeast Asia, a significant theatre of the US’s vaunted Indo-pacific technique. In 2017, Myanmar had flushed out 11 million Rohingyas—igniting a dismal humanitarian catastrophe. For the whims and caprice of the Myanmar ruling cliques, Bangladesh bears the brunt—with the nation strained on holding the burdens of astronomical refugees regardless of depleting assist directed to Rohingya. Nevertheless, the myriad of Myanmar’s misdemeanors solely elicited vacuous criticism and didn’t propel any efficient insurance policies to carry Myanmar accountable for its blatant human rights infringements. 

Granted, US supplied $1.6 billion in assist for the reason that genesis of the disaster. Nevertheless, that is solely a stopgap measure and doesn’t guarantee an efficient decision of the disaster.  The Biden administration did not calibrate an official response in addressing the disaster, and the American coverage solely continued sanctions on the important thing navy common imposed by Donald Trump. 

America is among the key gamers within the area. When US President Barack Obama was on the helm, the US greeted Myanmar’s entry into the worldwide economic system following a protracted interval of self-imposed exile since 1962. Obama mended fences with Myanmar in 2012 after an election that infused perception within the revival of democracy in Myanmar, though later Myanmar’s tryst with democracy proved ludicrously short-lived. In 2016, sensing a semblance of a democratic regime in Myanmar, United States put an finish to the remnant of sanctions. This exhibits that the US holds leverage on Myanmar—at the very least the US wielded a pivotal function in facilitating Myanmar’s entry to democracy. Given the cussed attitudes of Myanmar, the sanctions on commerce and funding might be reimposed and the scope of civilian sanctions might be considerably broadened to punish Junta and its accomplices. Whereas America shouldn’t be a provider of navy {hardware} to Myanmar, nevertheless by way of pressurizing US’s safety companions the US can smother the entry of navy {hardware} that’s used for brutally clamping down on nascent democratic actions. 

Nevertheless, none of this motion materialized. Evidently, America is restrained in its overseas coverage adventures and isn’t inclined in locking horns with China, and exerting pressures would possibly spiral right into a regional conflagration that’s distasteful for the US. Conveniently, thus, the US had shied away from one of many urgent crises of humanity and the arbitrary and strong-arm rule of the Myanmar Junta. 

The worrisome state of Rohingya languishing within the camps is a travesty of human rights and the dignity of humanity. Being a grudging host of the refugees, Bangladesh demonstrated benevolent generosity for the Rohingya, though the groundswell of native discontent turned towards Rohingya. The federal government headed by Sheikh Hasina remained staunchly dedicated to the security and safety of Rohingya—whereby a register of the general public opinion exhibits that the native folks in Cox’s Bazar discover their useful resource strained resulting from Rohingya. The Rohingya disaster paints a grim case of humanity, straying from their ancestral houses and inhabiting lives in outright precarity. 

Any political turnaround in Dhaka will hold the destiny of the Rohingya in steadiness. Rohingyas have been greeted with unparalleled altruism by Sheikh Hasina. Though the long-term presence of Rohingya had visibly aggrieved the overall mass, the federal government remained caught to its dedication. Events with nationalist affinities in Bangladesh railed towards the federal government and seen the Rohingya disaster in Bangladesh as a fiasco of the federal government’s insurance policies. These views achieve traction as nationalist and populist events inflame widespread sentiments with xenophobic agenda. Therefore, any engineered transition in Dhaka would possibly put the destiny of Rohingya in jeopardy—leading to a deep disaster. 

The disaster of Rohingya, the US’s dealing with of Myanmar, and the current shuffling of US diplomats in Dhaka—all point out a US coverage of flaws and amiss. Regardless of holding leverage on Myanmar, US did not avert a humanitarian catastrophe and an arbitrary rein of energy—occasions which can be anathema to the USA. In distinction, the US is displaying an exaggerated response in anticipating Bangladesh’s election, regardless of the repeated promise of the federal government of holding a free and honest election. This incongruence in US coverage doesn’t bode effectively for the longer term.

[Photo by Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons]

*Mehjabin Maliha Hossain is a world affairs researcher and pursuing her doctoral research on the Nationwide College of Singapore (NUS). The views and opinions expressed on this article are these of the creator.