Myanmar is taking heat as the Rohingya crisis rages, but it may have found a sympathetic ally

by Dramelin 10:30 PM 0 comments

Aung San Suu Kyi is now `very much a politician`: Expert    1:14 AM ET Thu, 7 Sept 2017 | 01:23 Myanmar finds itself increasingly isolated diplomatically as violence against the country`s Muslim minority Rohingya spurs a humanitarian crisis, but an analyst said the country has found one prominent ally: India.
Over the weekend, the United Nations appealed for aid as the number of Rohingya fleeing into southern Bangladesh neared 300,000 after the upsurge of violence began in Myanmar on August 25, Reuters reported.
Thousands of homes were burned down and dozens of villages destroyed in Myanmar`s Rakhine state after Rohingya insurgent attacks on police posts and an army base spurring a military counter-offensive, the report said.
The worsening of the Rohingya crisis coincided with the third day of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s first bilateral visit to Myanmar.
Earlier in his visit, Modi stated that India and Myanmar shared "similar security interests in the region," including concern over "extremist violence" in the Rakhine state.
His statement followed the Indian government`s decision to expel 40,000 Rohingya from India.
Herve Lemahieu, of Australian foreign policy think tank Lowy Institute, said that showed Modi, and Myanmar`s State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi had an "alignment of world views.
" Both understand the Rohingya situation through the lens of "state sovereignty and state security," he told CNBC`s "Street Signs" last week.
If state sovereignty and security are perceived to be threatened by "what they call the Rohingya insurgency," then Modi is complicit in "Suu Kyi`s approach not to call out on the military`s abuses of power in the Rakhine state," he said.
The predominantly Buddhist country`s treatment of the Rohingya has long been a point of contention and attacks on the Muslim minority have been reported for months prior to the recent intensification.
Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya have said the minority has faced a campaign of arson aimed at driving them out of the country, Reuters reported.