Warning: The magic method Vc_Manager::__wakeup() must have public visibility in /customers/d/b/2/rohingyapost.com/httpd.www/wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/core/class-vc-manager.php on line 203 Deprecated: Required parameter $width follows optional parameter $attach_id in /customers/d/b/2/rohingyapost.com/httpd.www/wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php on line 366 Deprecated: Required parameter $height follows optional parameter $attach_id in /customers/d/b/2/rohingyapost.com/httpd.www/wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php on line 366 {"id":18519,"date":"2017-05-11T00:14:59","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T23:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thestateless.com\/?p=18519"},"modified":"2017-05-11T00:14:59","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T23:14:59","slug":"worlds-most-persecuted-minority-recall-the-horrors-of-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rohingyapost.com\/worlds-most-persecuted-minority-recall-the-horrors-of-home\/","title":{"rendered":"World’s “most persecuted minority” recall the horrors of home"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Arshad R. Zargar, CBS News<\/a><\/p>\n

NEW DELHI <\/strong>— The birth of Muhammad Haroon’s son a few months ago brought some measure of joy to his shanty in New Delhi. But he can’t help worry about his young boy’s future; Atif-ul-Islam was born a refugee, into a fetid maze of a slum.<\/p>\n

Haroon visits his son several times a day. It provides a welcome break from the small United Nations-funded shop he runs in the slum, which is home to about 50 families, all Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Haroon is one of about 14,000 Rohingya refugees registered in India. They all fled alleged ethnic persecution in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state.<\/p>\n

The Rohingya are believed to have migrated from what is now Bangladesh to Rakhine (then known as Arakan) in the 17th century. When Myanmar gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948, the Rohingya were left stranded in Rakhine state; no longer Bangladeshi, but viewed by the newly-independent nation of Burma as outsiders.<\/p>\n

“We are people of nowhere,” Haroon told CBS News. “Myanmar doesn’t recognise us as its citizens, other countries don’t want us. Where should we go?”<\/p>\n

Almost 100 people were killed when tension between the Rohingya and the majority Buddhist population boiled over into ethnic rioting in 2012. An estimated 90,000 Rohingya were displaced amid the violence.<\/p>\n

The riots may have been the tipping point of distrust between the Rohingya population and the state, which passed a law in 1982 effectively rendering them stateless, with no voting rights.<\/p>\n

Every one of the refugees has his or own story to tell about the horrors of life back home.<\/p>\n

“No choice”<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Myanmar’s own military, along with extremist Buddhist groups, have been accused of subjecting the Rohingya to sexual violence, torture, arbitrary arrests and organized mass killings for many years.<\/p>\n

The U.N.’s human rights agency, UNHCR, has described Rohingya Muslims as “the most persecuted minority in the world,” and is sending a team to the country to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

Haroon made a dramatic escape from Myanmar in 2012, during the riots.<\/p>\n