We live in the Age of the Refugee. Political strife and sectarian violence have displaced millions of people, rendering them practically stateless. As of mid-2016, their number was 16.5 million, living in makeshift camps in horrendous conditions on the kindness of strangers. As India draws up plans to deport over 14,000 registered Rohingyas (the unofficial count is higher), a vast humanitarian crisis is in the making.
America prospered on the back of refugees and immigrants.
However, today, the civilised world faces a savage threat from refugees and immigrants who drive trucks into innocent crowds, rake nightclubs with automatic fire and stab shoppers. The Islamist narrative has polarised the world as terrorists create havoc in countries that welcomed them with dole and free housing at taxpayers’ expense, and ignoring the savage laws they brought from home in the name of ‘cultural sensitivity’. This weakness of conscience is what the IS exploited, by inflitrating the Syrian refugee wave with suicide bombers and killers who want nothing more than to destroy the very societies that welcomed them with open arms.
The Rohingyas are the refugees of the subcontinental moment. After a border attack by Rohingya terror group (the Harakah al-Yaqin), Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi spoke out against their involvement with Islamic militants. The trend of radicalisation among young Rohingyas is real—Rohingya terror group Aqa Mul Mujahideen (AMM) is operating in Kashmir with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. Agencies found that AMM fighters had received training in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Securitymen recently killed a Hafiz Saeed-sponsored Rohingya terrorist in the Valley. The war against Islamic militancy is being fought between religion and nationalism. Fundamentalists believe only in faith, not national or cultural identity.
India is home to millions of illegal immigrants. Like Bangladeshis, they are spread across the country. Decades of minority vote pandering has changed the demographic balance in many states. Once, anti-refugee feeling had economic reasons; today, it’s driven mostly by fear of an alien religion interfering in domestic culture and way of life.
The current global refugee crisis has been created by Islam's internal war. It is responsible for the agony of millions of Muslims who have been killed, maimed and orphaned. The International Crisis Group, which works to resolve deadly conflicts, has identified links between Rohingyas and the Saudi-Pakistan terror nexus. It is true that only a few suicide bombers and terrorists have risen from refugee camps. But it is no longer a credible excuse to absolve the collective innocence of the Rohingyas, Syrians and Palestinians of the blood of innocents that stains the hands of their murderous children. The onus of preventing mass murder lies on the community as a whole.
Instead of expecting the world to open its heart and soul to the unfortunate Rohingyas, it is now time for wealthy Saudi Arabia to offer them residence and citizenship. Instead of being the founder-in-chief and main propagator of Wahhabi terror, Saudi Arabia has a chance to become the shining beacon of humane Islam, thus integrating religion and race to create a brotherhood of faith in all its mercy.
Ravi Shankar
ravi@newindianexpress.com