At last, Myanmar army has admitted to killing 10 Rohingyas in a massacre at Inn Din village, Rakhine. But it does not paint the actual picture whatsoever. In just one month after the army started its killing spree, at least 6,700 Rohingya Muslims were killed, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), with countless others subjected to inhumane torture. As of now, nearly a million Rohingya refugees have taken shelter in Bangladesh, with many bearing signs of torture in their bodies, and terrible but consistent stories of mass murder, rape and torture, corroborated by international agencies, human rights and media organisations. These are tantamount to genocide and ethnic cleansing. The flow of refugees continues to trickle into Bangladesh.
Myanmar army's acknowledgement is just a fig leaf that cannot hide the truth. It is a subterfuge intended to pre-emptively conceal or play down the actual extent of the horrible atrocities the army committed against the Rohingya. Even in its deceitful acknowledgement, the army referred the Rohingyas as “Bengali terrorists” thus justifying the massacre.
The military will never commission an independent investigation into the widespread rights abuses because it is itself the chief participant in these carnages. The one it commissioned was not set up to reveal the facts but to conceal them. But, the Myanmar army cannot hide away under the excuse that those killed were “terrorists.” It is simply laying itself open to charges of war crimes. If Myanmar truly wants to repent its crimes, it can only do so by allowing international investigators to find out the truth and try those who are responsible for committing the atrocities.
