Bangladesh condemns Myanmar’s portrayal of Rohingya at genocide hearings

DHAKA (MNTV) – Bangladesh has issued a sharp rebuke of Myanmar’s legal defense at the International Court of Justice, accusing the country of deliberately mischaracterizing the Rohingya people to justify past atrocities and evade accountability for genocide.

In a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Dhaka, Bangladesh condemned Myanmar’s use of the term “Bengalis” to describe the Rohingya during ICJ proceedings, characterizing this as an attempt to portray them as illegal immigrants and security threats.

Bangladesh argued that Myanmar was trying to frame military operations conducted between 2016 and 2017 as legitimate counterterrorism measures rather than ethnic cleansing.

The statement emphasized that denying the Rohingya their right to self-identification represents a fundamental effort to destroy the community by expelling them from Rakhine State and rendering them stateless.

According to Bangladesh’s ministry, the Rohingya have deep historical connections to the Arakan region dating back to 1785, with their presence documented in historical records and colonial population data long before modern borders existed.

Bangladesh detailed how the Rohingya participated in Myanmar’s political and social systems until the 1982 citizenship law systematically excluded them.

Despite facing planned economic, cultural, and political repression, Rohingya people retained voting rights until the 2015 general election before losing them entirely.

The genocide case, brought by Gambia in November 2019, resumed public hearings earlier this month and will continue until January 29. Gambia’s legal team has presented evidence that Myanmar military officials used hate speech, calling Rohingya “Muslim dogs” who should be made “extinct.”

More than one million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since 2017, creating the world’s largest refugee settlement.

Far-right Myanmar nationalist group reacts

Meanwhile, a rare public demonstration took place in downtown Yangon, where hundreds of nationalist activists and Buddhist monks rallied against the genocide prosecution.

The crowd waved national flags and carried banners denying ethnic cleansing allegations.

Ultranationalist activist Win Ko Ko Latt told the gathering that Myanmar is “a land where loving kindness flourishes” and that “there is no such thing as genocide.”

The rally was organized by nationalist forces associated with the network formerly known as Ma Ba Tha, which was formally dissolved in 2017 but has continued operating under different names.

Led by activist Win Ko Ko Latt and Buddhist monks known for backing the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party, the demonstration expressed support for Myanmar’s delegation at The Hague.

Organizers are considering whether to include prominent ultranationalist monk Wirathu, though some members prefer to postpone his controversial public return.

Although the ICJ has no enforcement mechanism, a guilty verdict would increase pressure on Myanmar, already considered a pariah state by many nations following the 2021 military coup.

Several countries, including the United States, have already designated the military crackdown as genocide, with additional cases pending at the International Criminal Court and in Argentina.

The military campaign against the Rohingya began during a democratic period under Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who traveled to The Hague in 2019 to defend Myanmar’s generals.

That defense did not protect her from military detention following the coup five years ago, where the 80-year-old remains imprisoned.

A final ruling from the ICJ could take months or years to materialize.