Chitchat History Behind Rohingya

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Historical Claim:

The Rohingya are Muslims native to the northern Arakan region of Burma, which borders Bangladesh. The name Rohingya is taken from "Rohang" or "Rohan," which was the name used for the Arakan region during the 9th and 10th centuries. According to Rohingya history, the group is descended from 7th century Arab, Mughal, and Bengali merchants who settled in Arakan territory.

They lived next to the majority Arakans who is of Tibeto-Burmese type people that follows Buddhism and some Hindu folk practices.

Burmese Claim:

Rohingya were brought by British from Bangladesh during colonial ares as workers and settlers, since British controlled Bangladesh and Myanmar back then. The Bangladeshi named themselves as Rohingya subsequently.

In 1971 there was Brutal war broke out in Bangladesh Bangladesh Liberation War.Over 10 millions went to India as Refugee UNHCR honoured by Bangladesh for helping millions in 1971 conflict

Burma received smaller percentage refugee (estimated over a million most of them were supporter of Pakistan central government ). India supported Bangladesh Independence and side with rebellions. So supporters of Pakistan central government ran to Burma when rebellion and India army gain upper hand.


WW2

During World War II, Japanese forces invaded Burma, then under British colonial rule. The British forces retreated and in the power vacuum left behind, considerable inter communal violence erupted between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim villagers. The British armed Bengali immigrants in northern Arakan to create a buffer zone from Japanese invasion when they retreated.

The Rohingya were promised a separate Muslim state when the British reclaimed Burma from Japanese occupation during World War II as a reward for their loyalty. But instead, only those Rohingya that had collaborated with the British were appointed to official posts within the British-controlled colony.

As a consequence of acquiring arms from the British during World War II, Rohingyas tried to destroy the Arakanese villages instead of resisting the Japanese.
Muslims from Northern Rakhine State killed around 50,000 Arakanese, including the Deputy Commissioner U Oo Kyaw Khaing, who was killed while trying to settle the dispute. [3] However the number of Arakanese killed is being questioned, and the number of Muslims killed is claimed to be around 40,000 too.

Defeated, 50,000 Arakaneses eventually fled to the Dinaspur Chittagong Division of Bangladesh after repeated massacres by the Rohingya and Japanese forces.

Post WW2

Rohingya Insurgency started in 1948 just after the formation of Pakistan. The Rohingya Community leaders demanded to M.A Jinnah that the state of Rakhine be taken over by the East Bengal administration. Since the Rohingyas are Bengali Muslims residing in Myanmar in the Rakhine state,East Pakistan was their natural preference. This seems to be understandable since every group has the right to self determination.

Rohingya Muslims are a mere 10% of the Total State population of Rakhine and yet they want the whole province to become an Islamic state. Jinnah refused to include the state as a part of Pakistan as doing so would engage Pakistan in conflict with yet another neighbour. This refusal spurned the Bengali Muslims to create Religious Guerilla outfits (Mujahideen) to violently try and separate Rakhine from Burma. There have been various Bursts of this Insurgency with most of them waning down. Popular bursts were in the 1950's and 1970's (energised by the Birth of Bangladesh).

Experts believe that it was this action that led to eventual problems between the Rohingya and the Burmese government, who saw the group as untrustworthy.

When Burma declared independence in 1948, most Rohingya officials were replaced with Buddhist Arakanis who began to institute policies that many of the Muslim group considered unfair. Since that time, ethnic tensions have divided the two peoples.

Since 1960s

Burma’s military junta took control of the country in 1962, the Rohingya have been systematically deprived of their political rights.

The Rohingya were declared “non-nationals” and “foreign residents,” according to a citizenship law established by the regime in 1982, and were denied the right to participate in multiparty elections held in 1990.

In 2012 June Rakhine State riots were a series of conflicts primarily between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, though by October Muslims of all ethnicities had begun to be targeted. The riots finally came after weeks of sectarian disputes including a gang rape and murder of a Rakhine woman by Rohingyas and killing of ten Burmese Muslims by Rakhines. Rohingyas started to burn Rakhine's Buddhist and other ethnic houses after returning from Friday's prayers in Maungdaw township, More than a dozen residents have been killed in a riot by Rohingya Muslims.

Fighting broke out again in October, resulting in at least 80 deaths, the displacement of more than 20,000 people, and the burning of thousands of homes. Rohingyas are not allowed to leave their settlements, officially due to security concerns, and are the subject of a campaign of commercial boycott led by Buddhist monks.

Rest is history with the Buddhist majority in Rakhine and Burmese government decided to rid the Rohingya from the province.


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