Air Commodore (Retd) Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury, International Affairs and Security Analyst:
Bangladesh will reap benefit of the pressure on Myanmar, wherever it comes from. The UN report, released on Monday, which accused Myanmar’s military of carrying out mass killings and gang rapes with “genocidal intent”, is a great achievement for Bangladesh.
The report also called for the prosecution of the country’s commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and five generals. The crimes it cited after a long inquiry included murder, enforced disappearance, torture and sexual violence “perpetrated on a massive scale”.
We cannot say for sure if the high-ranking officials of Myanmar will be tried. It is important that the issue has become of topic of discussion globally and Bangladesh will gain from it. The Facebook authorities have banned accounts of 20 people including the country’s commander-in-chief. This will certainly mount pressure on Myanmar. The whole world has come to know about the crimes against of humanity committed by Myanmar through the UN report.
I think the international pressure is building up on Myanmar more and more and it will not wane. The forces siding with Myanmar will feel the pinch.
Both civil and military personnel were tried in the international court for committing mass killings and ethnic cleansing in the countries like Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Bosnia. The army generals are de facto in power in Myanmar. Right now, it is quite difficult to say if the six generals of Myanmar army can be tried for their crimes. But the international statements are putting Myanmar in a tight spot. China is one of the countries to work in favour of Myanmar. I think China will review its relations with Myanmar.
China has already provided a huge amount of money as loan to Myanmar. Now China is in a fix to work with any new project in Myanmar. Myanmar has already completed many mammoth projects with the financial assistance from China. The pressure that the UN is mounting will definitely benefit Bangladesh.
Based on an interview by Ashiq Rahman, translated by Hossen Sohel