The piercing sound of air raids, mortar shelling, and gunfire on our southern border not only violates Bangladeshi territorial integrity and sovereignty but also presents a gloomy image of an uncertain future for the people of Myanmar, Bangladesh, and the entire region.
The sound of gunshots also serves as a metaphor for the Myanmar Junta’s struggles and failures in establishing control over its own nation. The present violence in Myanmar has all the characteristics of a civil war.
Myanmar is already engulfed in a civil war. Organized opposition groups, credible challenges to state authority, ground presence, alternative governance infrastructure (usually), and external recognition are often necessary for civil conflicts. All those components exist in Burma. The opposition is not organized along ethnic lines. They have had success in battling the security forces and Burmese army.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy was democratically elected to power in Myanmar, but that government was overthrown last year, and the military took its place. The recent trend of increased fighting and violence in Myanmar is evidence of a growing unrest against the military establishment (NDL).
Bangladesh must support the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Gambia, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and other international organisations leading the efforts to hold the Myanmar military accountable for their actions against the Rohingya people in order to ensure the sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya refugees. Bangladesh needs to take the right actions to raise the Rohingya people’s voices and their grievances to the world community. The regional countries’ target should be strict against the brutal Myanmar military. The world, including regional countries, must realise that the Rohingya issue is likely to remain stuck until the Myanmar junta is kicked out of power – and this could take a long time
Following the military takeover, a sizable pro-democracy movement emerged, which later evolved into armed resistance in response to the Junta’s violent assault on dissent, which claimed the lives of at least 2,300 civilians throughout Myanmar.
The People’s Defence Force (PDF), an anti-coup resistance force, has been in charge of a widespread armed resistance campaign since the coup. The National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow government in exile run by Suu Kyi’s NLD’s expelled MPs, served as the foundation for the PDF.
Frequently armed only with handmade weapons and a thorough understanding of the terrain, the PDF has managed to astound the military with its capabilities.
To put an end to the resistance movement, the Junta in reaction conducted indiscriminate airstrikes, shelling, and arson attacks against cities and villages.
The Junta’s support among the populace has been eroded by this indiscriminate violence against the civilian population, which has brought the nation dangerously close to civil war as more civilians take up guns to oppose the military regime.
The failure of the Junta military to take control of the country, is due to the lack of popular support brought on by the indiscriminate violence against the country’s population, the Myanmar military’s lack of professionalism, and corruption at every level of its military leadership and law enforcement agencies.
Ethnic Armed Forces Organizations (EAOs), also known as powerful ethnic armed organizations, have formed coalitions to combat the Junta on the battlefield as a result of the Junta’s failings. There are some of them that have friendly ties to the military establishment.
In light of recent developments, the heads of Myanmar’s seven most potent ethnic armed groups, including the Arakan Army, recently met in the remote WA area bordering China to strengthen their alliance.
Some of these EAOs have actively given military training and other types of support to the anti-coup resistance, even if they are not actively engaged in the campaign to topple the Junta regime in Myanmar, which is the PDF’s main goal.
The crisis in Myanmar has already served as a flashpoint for major world powers, just like every other contemporary conflict throughout the globe.
A semi-proxy battle has already developed in this conflict. China firmly supports the Burmese government. Western nations have denounced Burmese activities, supported the opposition diplomatically and helped them make their voices heard.
Myanmar has been attempting to take advantage of the West’s diversion in attention away from this region due to the conflict in Ukraine to annihilate its rivals on the battlefield.
The Junta has been looking for supporters domestically and abroad as part of its so-called “counter-terrorism” drive to combat the diplomatic isolation the west imposed on the country last year.
Last June, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution urging nations to stop arming Myanmar. However, the call was ignored. China, Russia, and Serbia are now Burma’s top three weaponry suppliers.
Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, criticised Russia and China for continuing to supply the Junta with weapons despite “proof of the horrific crimes being committed with impunity” since launching a coup last year in his report released in February. However, Russia is still selling the Junta military equipment, and as part of a 2018 contract, it will soon send brand-new Sukhoi SU-30SM jet fighters.
Due to an uptick in violence, conditions in Myanmar have recently gotten worse for a great number of innocent people. This brutal crackdown has unleashed a major refugee crisis forcing tens of thousands of people from almost every region to flee the country.
Since the coup, at least 1.3 million people have been forcibly evacuated in an effort to flee military attacks, he claimed, adding that the effects of this refugee flow would be felt throughout the entire Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
The largest increase in the number of refugees arrived in the Indian state of Mizoram. Since the military overthrew the government in 2021, and about 30,000 people from Myanmar have sought refuge in Mizoram, according to Hindustan Times.
Bangladesh is also seeing a small influx of refugees despite intensive monitoring and surveillance in border regions. A minimum of 10-15 Rohingya have sought refuge in the Kutupalong and Balukhali shelter camps in Cox’s Bazar since September 10 as a result of resumption of hostilities between the the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army in Rakhine.
The “spectre of violence” in Myanmar has started to compel ASEAN members to take action against Myanmar. This is a very significant development.
Bangladesh and Thailand have both been patient and cautious in their response (to airspace violation and artillery shelling), but if conflict persists and such violations become routine, Burmese provocations will in the future be responded to and that might create region-wide instability and chaos.
The Indo-Pacific region’s stability is threatened by the recent flare-up of fighting in Myanmar, which has alarmed neighbouring nations. The continuous insecurity and instability in Rakhine state has produced a spillover impact across the region.
Everyone worries that terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda may exploit the deteriorating situation in Rakhine state if the situation there is not adequately addressed. The world must emphasise the necessity of taking action on a global scale to address the security risk brought on by the unrest in Myanmar.
Bangladesh and Myanmar share a turbulent, almost 300-km border, which has the potential to have negative repercussions on both countries.
For more than a month, tensions have been rising between Dhaka and Naypyidaw. On the Bangladesh side of the border, numerous instances of Myanmar’s brutal army airspace violations, deadly shelling, and gunfire have been documented.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry summoned Myanmar’s Ambassador in Dhaka, Aung Kyaw Moe, to express opposition to the provocation following a recent incidence of mortar fire in Bangladesh that resulted in the death of an 18-year-old Rohingya boy in the no-land man’s near Bandarban.
Bangladesh must support the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Gambia, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and other international organisations leading the efforts to hold the Myanmar military accountable for their actions against the Rohingya people in order to ensure the sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya refugees. Bangladesh needs to take the right actions to raise the Rohingya people’s voices and their grievances to the world community. The regional countries’ target should be strict against the brutal Myanmar military. The world, including regional countries, must realise that the Rohingya issue is likely to remain stuck until the Myanmar junta is kicked out of power – and this could take a long time.
