Ethnic Minority Groups: Facing Indignation on Various Counts

 

Dr. Shobhana Singh -Assistant Professor 

Ethnic Minority Groups: Facing Indignation on Various Counts

"Great men cultivate love and only little men cherish a spirit of hatred; assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak." -- Booker T. Washington.

The present blog is an attempt to understand the various challenges faced by ethnic minority groups and indigenous people at the present time. Here I would discuss about two ethnic groups; (1- ) Bru community in Northeast India and (2- ) Uyghur community in China.

  (1) Bru Community-           



 The North- Eastern region of India has long remained one of the most volatile and sensitive regions in the country because of the problems of the border management, insurgency, ethnic conflict, pressure of immigration, underdevelopment, etc. Bru or Reang is an indigenous community to Northeast India who are living mostly in Tripura, Mizoram and Assam. In Tripura, this community is recognized as a particularly vulnerable tribal group. In Mizoram, this community has been targeted by groups who do not consider them indigenous to the state. In the year 1997, they faced ethnic clashes and nearly 37,000 Brus fled Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei districts of Mizoram, where they were accommodated in relief camps in Tripura.

 Till now, 5,000 Brus have returned to Mizoram through repatriation, while 32,000 still live in relief camps in Tripura. In June 2018, an agreement was signed by the community leader from Bru, with the Centre and the two state governments for their repatriation in Mizoram. But the camp resident said that this agreement does not guarantee their safety in Mizoram, so they rejected this agreement. Home Ministry of India gave instructions to stop the food supply to relief camps in a bid to hastily complete the repatriation of the Brus to Mizoram. It was claimed by their community that six refugees died due to starvation.

A Landmark Agreement

In New Delhi on 16th January 2020, a historic and landmark agreement was signed between Government of India, Government of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru community representatives to resolve the 23 years old Bru refugee crisis. According to this agreement, around 35,000 Bru refugees would be settled permanently in Tripura and the Centre sanctioned a Rs. 600-crore settlement package. However, resettlement plans have suffered a delay due to the Covid-19 crisis and members of the community living in Tripura say their livelihoods have been hit by pandemic while government funds and rations are ‘insufficient’.

(2-)Uyghur Community-

 Uyghur is an ethnic group living in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang, which is a Muslim minority in that region. This group has been oppressed by the Chinese government by detaining more than a million Uyghur people in reeducation camps. Human rights organizations, UN officials, and many foreign governments are urging China to stop the abuses, which the United States has described as genocide. But Chinese officials maintain that what they call vocational training centers, do not infringe on Uyghur’s human rights.

Reality in the camps

 Though limited information on what actually happens in the camps is available, but many detainees who have escaped, describe the harsh conditions. They say that detainees are forced to pledge loyalty to the CCP and give up Islam, and have to sing praises for communism and learn Mandarin. Some reported that their activities are monitored by cameras and microphones and they are treated like prisoners. Women have faced sexual abuse, including rape and forced sterilizations. Many released detainees contemplated suicide or witnessed others kill themselves. Children of the detainees are sent to state-run orphanages.

Factors involved in this clampdown

Let us understand why China is so much involved in suppressing these Uyghur Muslims. In fact Xinjiang province plays a pivotal role in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is a dream project stretching through Asia and Europe. Xinjiang shares borders with eight countries, including Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan as shown above in the map, so it has a great strategic significance for China’s expansion policy. This region has abundant of mineral resources which is crucial for China’s economic growth.

 The Global Response

Many countries, including United Nations have condemned China’s detention of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. UN officials have demanded access to the camps. The European Union has asked China to respect religious freedom and change its policies in Xinjiang.

 Now what are the Ways Forward to all these Mental Trauma, Oppression, Harassment and Violation of Human Rights against these Ethnic Minorities?

 As we see that many measures have been taken by US, United Nations and others against China’s oppression policy on the name of educational camp, but no fruitful result is found. We should think that we all are human beings and in order to maintain peace and brotherhood we just need to focus on our human values. Nowadays, we find that these ethnic minority groups are fighting for their survival in all over the world and now it’s time for every nation, every person and every government to be awaken and become sensitive towards them. In order to lead a meaningful life, we need to cherish others, pay attention to human values, respect other’s ethnicity and try to cultivate inner peace. Here I would like to end up my blog with a quote of Mahatma Gandhi.

"Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization." -- Mahatma Gandhi.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Stories of Subalterns: Gender Violence in Manipur and Intolerance in Madhya Pradesh

Image
  The Stories of Subalterns: Gender Violence in Manipur and Intolerance in Madhya Pradesh By Dr.Shobhana Singh    In 1930s, an Italian Marxist philosopher, writer, politician and journalist Antonio Gramsci, who was in prison at that time,  coined the term subaltern in his widely known book “Prison Notebooks” to identify the cultural hegemony that excludes specific people and social groups from the socio-economic institutions of society, later on t he term's semantic range has evolved from its first usage by  an Indian historian , Ranajit Guha , who studied them from the perspective of the under classes term " subaltern ".  Now the term refers to any person or group of inferior rank or station, whether because of  race ,  class ,  gender ,  sexual orientation ,  ethnicity , or  religion . Unfortunately even in post-colonial era we still consider tribals, women, minority groups etc. as subalterns and treat them like that . ...
Read more

A Mentor's Blessings

Image
                             A Mentor’s Blessings                                                                                                                               Life may surprise you with twists and turns      But dear never give up to learn                                                  When any challenge presses you d...
Read more

Viksit Bharat @ 2047: The Exigency of A Collaborative Effort

Image
                                             Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the interim budget said that government’s vision for ‘Viksit Bharat’ is that of a “prosperous Bharat in harmony with nature, with modern infrastructure, and providing opportunities for all citizens and all regions to reach their potential”. Viksit Bharat @ 2047 is a vision and a roadmap of the current government that is the outcome of intensive preparation and hard work which has inclusive approach and involves all miniseries, state governments, academia, civil societies, scientific organizations, industries and youth of India for achieving the vision. Why 2047? The answer is that in 1947 we got independence from British rule and in 2047 we will be completing 100 years, so Prime Minister has this action plan of ‘Viksit Bharat @ 2047’ to transform...
Read more