The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands has submitted an application for the issuance of an arrest warrant against the country's acting president and army chief, General Min Aung Hlaing, for the persecution of Myanmar's minority Muslim Rohingya population and the displacement of a large part of them.

International Criminal Court Chief Counsel Karim Asad Ahmed Khan submitted the application. This step of ICC has already been welcomed by Bangladesh.

In a statement posted on social media X on Wednesday, Karim Khan said that he came to Bangladesh in 2022. During that visit, besides visiting the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, he met with several leaders of the Rohingya community living there and representatives of the government of Bangladesh. Then he returned to the Netherlands and submitted a report on the experience of the visit to the ICC office and an application for the issuance of a warrant to arrest the head of the Myanmar junta.

Karim Khan said, "The application by my office for the issuance of the arrest warrant stated that in 2016-'17, the crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar and the Rohingya who were forced to flee from Myanmar to Bangladesh - in each case the senior general of Myanmar and Acting President Min Aung Hlaing is involved. At that time, General Hlaing was the army chief and basically these crimes happened under his orders.

According to the ICC, the application is currently in the office of Judge No. 1 of the Court's Pre-Trial Chamber. The judge will now take into account the evidence submitted with the application. Once his signature is read on the warrant, the Office of the Chief Counsel of the Court will start the operation to arrest General Hlaing.

Meanwhile, the current interim government of Bangladesh has welcomed the arrest warrant application in the name of General Hlaing. Khalilur Rahman, Bangladesh government's spokesman for Rohingya affairs, praised the move by the ICC's top counsel, telling Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency that it is a very important initiative and the first step in holding Myanmar's army accountable and ensuring justice for the Rohingya.

In August 2017, several army camps and police stations in Rakhine State were bombed simultaneously. The armed Arakan Salvation Army (ARSA) later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Immediately after this attack, the Myanmar army launched an operation against the Rohingyas. More than 100,000 Rohingyas came to Bangladesh and took refuge in the face of murder, rape, looting and house burning in the terrible army operation.