Description
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Organization of the Book
Chapter 3. Background History of the Rohingyas in Arakan: From the Kingdom of Arakan to the Colonial Era
Chapter 4. Relevant Burmese Modern History
Chapter 5. To Define the Rohingya Problem
Chapter 6. Strategic Significance of the Area
Chapter 7. 1974 Constitution: A Turning Event in Myanmar History?
Chapter 8. Role of the Monks
Chapter 9. What Genocide/Crime against Humanity/Ethnic Cleansing Entails
Chapter 10. Can the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecute the Perpetrators? 91
Chapter 11. Geopolitics Involved
Chapter 12. Possibility of Local Insurgency Getting Entrenched
Chapter 13. Possibility of Rohingya Going back to Myanmar this Time Round
Chapter 14. Plight of Bangladesh in Sheltering the Rohingyas
Chapter 15. Scenario Development
Chapter 16. Suggestions: Few Doable
References
About the Author
Index
Reviews
“In his book, Genocide and Geopolitics of the Rohingya Crisis, the scholar General Aminul Karim uncovers the broader canvas of the topic, painstakingly consulting the plethora of existing literature, interviewing various experts, and offering his own analysis and conclusions. General Karim begins with a background of the Rohingyas in Arakan and of modern Burma including its various insurgencies. He then moves on to the strategic importance of the area. Being resource rich, the oil and gas fields are controlled by an enterprise, in which the senior military officers who run the country have economic interests. Major world powers and big corporations have their eyes on these resources. Added to this is the location along the Bay of Bengal, which is vital for Chinese access to the Indian Ocean. Removing Rohingyas strengthens the control of these forces on the area and consequently, upon the resources. Examining the legal issues in subsequent chapters, the author concludes that the Myanmar regime is certainly guilty of committing genocide, but because Myanmar is not a member of ICC and because implementation of the ICJ decision depends largely on the UNSC, punishment of the perpetrators cannot be guaranteed. Chapters 11 and 12 enter into the main theme of the book—geopolitics, and the possibility of a local Muslim insurgency…In his concluding chapters, through interviews, the author suggests some solutions. Sadiqul Islam of Laurentian University, Canada, considers the expulsion of the Rohingyas into Bangladesh an act of war. Professor Delwar Hossain of Dhaka University thinks even a limited war on this issue is quite unlikely. This reviewer has looked into history, and seen that no such problem involving a crime of genocide has been resolved peacefully. The issue is likely to be prolonged and in such a case, the growth of an insurgency and recruitment of young zealots by international terror groups is a distinct possibility. To resolve the problem, General Karim suggests that great powers like China, Russia, the US, and the UN and other international organizations work together to ensure citizenship for Rohingyas and their repatriation, and federalism and autonomy in Myanmar. Alas, the Myanmar state looks unlikely to proceed this way; nor are the great powers showing any such inclination. The author agrees that this sounds like tall-talks, but he would still like to be optimistic. Unfortunately, going by the proceedings so far, there seems little space for such optimism. All said and done, this book is unique in as much as it has the intellectual dimension of an academic. It also reflects the strategic perspective of a professional who has had a decades-old career in military and security matters. A remarkable work, this book would be useful both for researchers as well as policymakers who can devise strategies to handle the issue in the years to come…READ MORE“ -Reviewed by Md Touhid Hossain, Former Foreign Secretary, published in The Daily Star (December 24, 2020)
