NO ONE should thank a coup for anything. But the Rohingya may just do that.
The National Unity Government (NUG), of which Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy is a member, is now extending citizenship rights and just treatment to the Rohingya if they join them in fighting the junta.
A peculiar twist, this is. During the reign of NLD's democracy, the very same government did nothing to stop the Tatmadaw, as the army is known, from killing the Rohingya.
What's worse, Suu Kyi and others in her government were explicit in their support for the Tatmadaw's plan to exterminate them. Suu Kyi went as far as travelling to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to defend the genocidal generals.
Common atrocities suffered at the hands of Min Aung Hlaing and his men in fatigues appear to be behind this major shift in the NUG. Perhaps the enemies' enemies are friends now.
While many rights movements are welcoming the NUG's move, the Rohingya are not ecstatic. In the words of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, the Rohingya "warily welcome" the extension of the olive branch. Here is why.
Suu Kyi, head of the deposed government, herself may be a hurdle for the NUG to cross. There is no indication that the NUG's shift is supported by Suu Kyi.
It is hard to believe that she will. Here is a leader who did everything to erase the word "Rohingya" from being mentioned in official documents and even in conversation. To her, the Rohingya are at most "Muslims in the Rakhine State".
And then there are the Bamars, the Buddhist majority, who for the most part, were happy with the army's persecution of the Rohingya. Reports by the United Nations and non-governmental organisations tell of the Bamars' open support for the Tatmadaw's atrocities against the Rohingya.
True, the NUG's statement on Thursday as quoted by the Guardian, the British daily, says "the entire people of Myanmar are sympathetic to the plight of the Rohingya as all now experience atrocities and violence perpetrated by the military". Can a century of hate disappear just like that? Unlikely.
A local news portal, Myanmar Now, shares the view of this Leader, saying "a broad cross-section of Myanmar society is staunchly opposed to recognising the Rohingya as one of the country's national races".
A national reconciliation of monumental kind may be needed to convert those who are so "staunchly opposed". Extremist Buddhist monks, who are the go-to men for the Bamars, will surely number among the staunchly opposed.
Then there is the Tatmadaw, a 300,000-strong force in uniform, who want no Rohingya in Myanmar. Even if the NUG manages to get the men in fatigues back to the barracks, there is no guarantee that the errant generals and their men would give up their murderous ways.
There is only one way to ensure that the generals don't turn their guns on the Rohingya. Or the Bamars as they are doing now.
Make them accountable for the war crimes. Understandably, the NUG isn't very forthcoming on this. It knows that some of its partners in the NLD will be hauled up by the International Criminal Court.
Complicity is a war crime, too. Be that as it may, the Quran assures the Rohingya, hope is never dead and love is never lost.