ICC opens probe into Myanmar's treatment of Rohingyas
The Hague, Sep 19 : The International Criminal Court has opened a preliminary examination into Myanmar's alleged crimes against its Rohingya Muslim minority, including killings, sexual violence and forced deportations.
The move was the first step towards a full investigation of Myanmar's military crackdown that killed thousands and forced over 700,000 of the stateless people flee the northern Rakhine state into neighbouring Bangladesh.
The development came nearly two weeks after judges ruled that even though Myanmar did not sign up to the Hague-based ICC, the court still had jurisdiction over crimes against the Rohingyas because Bangladesh is an ICC member, the BBC reported.
In August, Myanmar rejected a UN report calling for military figures to be investigated for genocide. The Myanmar Army has previously cleared itself of wrongdoing in the Rohingya crisis.
The military launched a crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine last year after Rohingya militants carried out attacks on police posts. Hundreds of thousands have since fled to Bangladesh.
There have been widespread allegations of human rights abuses, including arbitrary killing, rape and burning of land over many years.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on Tuesday said she had decided "to carry out a full-fledged preliminary examination of the situation at hand".
Bensouda said the initial probe, which could lead to a formal investigation by the ICC, could focus on a number of alleged "coercive acts" that possibly led to the "forced displacement" of Rohingya Muslims.
She said that these might include "deprivation of fundamental rights, killing, sexual violence, enforced disappearance, destruction and looting".
The Hague-based court would also consider whether persecution or "other inhumane acts" played a part in the plight of the Rohingya.
The ICC announcement came as British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who was set to arrive in Myanmar on Wednesday for talks with the country's leaders, promised additional support for victims of sexual violence.
Hunt will visit Rakhine and will also meet Myanmar's State Counsellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who recently said her government could in hindsight have handled the Rohingya situation differently.
Earlier on Tuesday, UN investigators presented a 444-page report detailing alleged violations committed by the Myanmar military in relation to violence against the Rohingya Muslim population.
"It is hard to fathom the level of brutality," the head of the UN's fact-finding mission on Myanmar, Marzuki Darusman, told the UN Human Rights Council, adding that the military showed a "total disregard for civilian life".
The report was criticised by Myanmar's Ambassador to the UN, Kyaw Moe Tun, who labelled it "one-sided" and "flawed".
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EC dismisses scope for wrongdoing at strongrooms; prohibitory orders around Kolkata counting centres
Kolkata (PTI): A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spent hours at the EVM strongroom of her Bhabanipur constituency alleging possibilities of malpractices, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Friday asserted there is no scope for wrongdoing at the counting centres.
Following tensions around two counting centres in Kolkata late on Thursday, police clamped prohibitory orders on gatherings outside all seven strongrooms in the city.
Stating that round-the-clock CCTV monitoring of strongrooms was in place, Agarwal dismissed the allegations as "baseless".
TMC spokesperson and Beleghata constituency candidate Kunal Ghosh said that party workers and poll aspirants were keeping a strict vigil at the counting centres, where the EVMs are stored in strongrooms, upon directions of party supremo Mamata Banerjee.
"There is no scope for any wrongdoing given the arrangements made to secure the EVMs. The Centres have been kept under thorough CCTV coverage and their live-streamed footage can be seen from outside," Agarwal told reporters.
"One should have reason and evidence for making allegations," he said, maintaining that there were no grounds for levelling charges of EVM tampering or pre-counting malpractice.
Two counting centres in Kolkata witnessed high drama late on Thursday evening after TMC leaders alleged a lack of transparency and possible malpractice at the strongrooms housing sealed EVMs of the assembly polls, which concluded on April 29.
Mamata Banerjee herself landed up at the Sakhawat Memorial School counting centre and stayed put there for about four hours. She emerged from the premises past midnight and warned against any attempts to tamper with the counting process, demanding greater transparency.
TMC leaders and candidates Sashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh held a sit-in outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra counting centre on Thursday evening, alleging unauthorised activities inside the strongroom amid the absence of TMC agents.
Matters came to a head after a large number of supporters from both TMC and BJP camps gathered outside the venue, shouting slogans till they were dispersed by security forces.
The EC, however, dismissed the claim, clarifying that poll officials were engaged in the task of segregating postal ballots as per due process and the strongrooms remained secure, asserting all political parties for the mandatory segregation activity were duly notified.
On Friday, Kolkata Police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS around all seven designated strong rooms in the city.
As per the order issued by Police Commissioner Ajay Nand, the restrictions prohibited the assembly of five or more persons within a 200-metre radius of each strongroom, along with a ban on processions, demonstrations, and carrying of weapons or explosive materials.
The measure, which aims to prevent any breach of peace, violence, or disturbance during the storage of ballot papers and polled EVMs, will remain in force until the commencement of counting on May 4.
Besides the two counting centres in question, the prohibitory orders were also clamped around the Hastings House complex, APC Polytechnic College, St. Thomas Boys' High School, Ballygunge Government High School and the David Hare Training College counting premises.
A senior police officer said enhanced security arrangements have been made at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, the counting centre for several assembly seats in north and east Kolkata housing EVM strong rooms.
"Additional CAPFs and armed police forces have also been deployed under the supervision of an additional commissioner and a deputy commissioner of police," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Kolkata, Rupesh Kumar, told reporters after visiting the area.
Expressing apprehension that unauthorised movements might occur when a section of postal ballots is brought in the evening, Kunal Ghosh said on Friday morning that the party's polling agents and candidates have been alerted about the matter.
Minister Shashi Panja, who also arrived at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in the morning, maintained that "transparency" should be ensured for all strongroom activities.
Ghosh told reporters on Friday that though they had seen some movement in a strongroom that allegedly stored postal ballots, there was no such movement on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Banerjee's challenger at Bhabanipur and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari took a dig at the chief minister for her late-night visit to the counting centre.
"I want to reassure the people of Bhabanipur and of West Bengal that the TMC candidate and outgoing chief minister was prevented from taking any additional advantage. Despite her best intentions to the contrary, she wasn't allowed to act in violation of rules," Adhikari wrote on social media platforms, posting a picture of Banerjee sitting at what appeared to be an area outside the counting centre strong room.
"Till such time she was present there, my election agent, advocate Surjyanil Das personally positioned himself at the spot keeping a tight watch on her so that she isn't able to take recourse to improper means," he added.
Security forces kept a strict vigil in and around counting centres and strongrooms in Kolkata and other districts where EVM machines used in the state assembly elections are stored, an official said.
Sakhawat Memorial School in south Kolkata's Bhabanipur, which saw high drama till the early hours of Friday with the chief minister spending several hours at the counting centre, wore a peaceful look in the morning with security personnel guarding the area.
