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'Internal armed conflict': Govt-appointed panel finds no 'genocide' against Rohingya in Myanmar

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Jan 20, 2020, 04:48 PM IST
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File photo. Photograph:(AFP)

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Describing the situation as 'internal armed conflict' the panel, blamed Rohingya militants for attacking 30 police posts and 'provoking' the crackdown.

Describing the situation as 'internal armed conflict' the panel, blamed Rohingya militants for attacking 30 police posts and "provoking" the crackdown.

In the report, the panel also said that there are "reasonable grounds" to conclude that the members of the security forces were among the "multiple actors" responsible for possible war crimes and serious human rights violations.

But, the Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE) also said that they did not "found any evidence suggesting that these killings or acts of displacement were committed pursuant to intent or plan to destroy the Muslim or any other community in northern Rakhine State."

"There is insufficient evidence to argue, much less conclude, that the crimes committed were undertaken with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, or with any other requisite mental state for the international crime of genocide," the ICOE statement read.

Watch | UNGA condemns human rights violation against Rohingyas in Myanmar

The latest statement came as the panel which was probing the allegations of abuses in Rakhine in 2017, finalised its full report based on interviews with villagers and members of the security forces

Global outrage was sparked in 2017 after over 730,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine state during weeks of brutal violence.  According to reports, hundreds of villages were burned and women were gang-raped.

During the violence, the United Nations had said that the gang rapes and mass killings were carried out with "genocidal intent". 

The International Court of Justice, the highest U.N. court, will this week issue a decision on a request for emergency measures in a genocide case against the country.

Gambia filed the suit in November alleging Myanmar was committing "an ongoing genocide" against the Rohingya.

The commission of enquiry was formed in 2018 as the country faced growing calls for accountability.

The government-appointed two local and two international members – Filipino diplomat Rosario Manalo and Kenzo Oshima, a former Japanese ambassador to the United Nations.

(With inputs from agencies)