Posted by Myshkin
Kabir (YKA)
June 3, 2017
When it comes to
find out the world’s most persecuted minorities, the name Rohingya will be at
the front. A very long and complex historical background describes us the most
enthralling information that most of our generation wants to grasp. The
Rohingyas are the Muslim ethnic minorities group where almost one million
living in the Buddhist majority country of Myanmar. They speak a Bengali
dialect and reside at the Northwest part of the country. They mostly live in
the poorest region of Myanmar which is known as the Rakhine state.
When in the 1982
Citizenship law was drawn out, the Rohingya didn’t get recognition among the
Myanmar’s 135 official ethnic groups and their citizenship were also denied.
Most of their rights are refused as there are documents needed to confirm that
they have been living in Myanmar for last 60 years, whereas they were always
denied the paperwork. Their right to travel, study, marries and even employment
is restricted.
The Myanmar
leadership are in an oxymoron where they don’t want to agitate the majority
Buddhist population Myanmar and interfere with ethnic conflict that the Rakhine
state is offering. Even the Government of Nobel Laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi, the
political party NLD couldn’t dare to come to settle the ethnic conflicts of the
Rakhine state. According to the estimation a number of 110,000 people fled by
boat to countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines to escape the
deteriorating situation of Rakhine state.
We all know the
suppressing that has been encountered by the unfortunate Rohingya people, but
for most of us the information regarding the beginning of the conflict is
superficial. Here I am trying to put some historical background the will help
us to connect the dots and give it a shape.
Rakhine state was
previously known as the Arakan. Arakan kingdom is a medieval one, which was
situated at the edge of South Asia. It became a Burmese province after the
Burmese annexation of it in 1784. For Bangladesh and India the province became
of significant interest, when the Moghul Prince Shah Shuja with his whole
family was brutally massacred by the Arakanese King Sandathudamma.
Shah Shuja was the
Moghul Governor of Bengal (1639-60). Shuja was assured of asylum by the Mogh
Arakanese King. But soon after the assurance he was robbed and his family was
brutally murdered. The followers who accompanied to Burma Shah Shuja were
agitated and also the anger spread to Moghul capital of Delhi. Shah Shuja’s
uncle Shaista Khan led a conquest and conquered Chittagong. The mighty presence
of Moghul in the bay created internal chaos at Arakan. The Arakanese lost their
profitable business from piracy and slave trade. This turn of events cause the
human suffering come to an end caused by the Arakanese brutal rule.
The Arakanese that
time was known for the terror they created to their people and also to the
neighbors. They fought among themselves and changed their masters whenever they
wanted. The political situation of Arakan was in turmoil. If they were having
peace among a capable leader, that would have been troublesome for their
neighbors. Taking advantage of the weakness of Arakan administration, Burmese
annexation of Arakan took place and under the Burmese rule because of
negligence Arakan became a tiny and backward province of Burma. Because of it
desperate role for producing refugees Arakan mot of the 20th century made the
headlines of international media. The people who suffered the most are the Rohingya
population. The Rakhine Hoodlums and the Burmese military are accused of
plotting a war against the Rohingyas. In the search for survival the Rohingya
refugees took shelters at the Southern Chittagong. The Rakhine leaders and
Burmese military claimed that those people are originally from Chittagonnian
territory. Contrary to the claims, most of the Rohingya fled in 1978 found
carrying the National Registration Cards. When a fresh influx came to
Bangladesh, the Rohingya leaders claim that this time their cards were
confiscated. Rohingya people were discriminated based on their ethnic and
religious identity. There were systematic plans of underdevelopment in the
state of Rakhine by the Burmese military and the administration, which led the
Rohingya flew from Rakhine state.
Rohingya children
are the most affected ones from the deplorable policies implied on the ethnic
community. It is drastically affecting the physical and mental development of
the kids and leaving long lasting impact on their mind.
There are evidences
of larger influx from Burma to other countries. Because of the Burmese invasion
of Arakan a lot of people took refuge to Southern Chittagong and Chittagong
hill Tracts of Bangladesh. Among them are the Chakmas, Rakhines, Marmas and
Tanchainga.
There were many
Burmese invasions; among them three are most remarkable. These three left a
long lasting implication on the consequence shaping of the Arakan Province.
By killing his own
brother, Anawrahta claimed the throne of Northern Burma for himself and
established Buddhism as the dominant religion of the territory in 1044 AD. He
then invaded Arakan and came to know as the most brutal king of that time. He
was the one who gave Buddhism which was known originally a non-violent
religion, a brutal name. The religious fanatic king invaded Arakan with the
intention to bring change from the Indianized population into an Asian variety
one. He helped Tibeto- Burman Buddhist population to get settled in Arakan.
During his rule the Chakmas got threatened and left Arakan for Southern
Chittagong.
The second Burmese
invasion took place in 1406 AD, by the Burmese King Min Khaung Yaza. The Arakan
king Noromi- Kala, along with his large followers took asylum at Gaur, the
court of Bengali Sultan Gaisuddin Azam Shah. This invasion led to large amount
influx from Myanmar. After 24 years, sultan Jalaluddin Khan sent his general
Wali Khan to restore Yaza to his throne. Now Yaza takes the name Sulaiman Shah
and becomes the Arakan king again. But again Wali Khan takes the throne of
Arakan and ruled it. He became the first independent Muslim ruler of Arakan. He
was the first one to introduce Persian language to Arakan. Nadir Shah sent his
troops of 30000 to restore Yaza as the Arakan king. Wali Khan was killed in the
battle and as promised Arakan returned the 12 feuds of Chittagong to the Moghul
rule. The whole of Northern Chittagong then came under the Muslim rule. Because
of the consequences a large number of Rohingya Muslim Population got settle
down in Arakan.
The final annexation
of Burmese rule in Arakan is considered as the most brutal massacre in
Arakanese history. Both Rohingya and Rakhine population became the ruthless
prey to Burmese cruelty. The Burmese King imprisoned 20000 people and destroyed
temples, shrines, mosques and libraries. The Burmese king took the Mohamuni,
the famous Buddhist statue, a symbol of Arakanese pride of Independence.
Chittagong was under the British rule, during the time of Burmese invasion of
Arakan. The British never tried to rescue the Arakan Kingdom. Many Hindu and
Rohingya population escaped Arakan for Chittagong. In references to the Burmese
brutality some scholars describe, to break the spirit of the people, men; women
and children were drove into bamboo enclosures and burn them alive by thousands.
The oppression to the Rohingya refugees are to this extreme that they preferred
to get slaughter at outside Arakan state rather than going back to there.
In 1824, there was a
decisive war between the British and Burmese and resulting in the occupation of
Arakan by the British. By then because of too much suppression Arakan almost
became depopulated. It was in Kalandan and Lemro river valleys where the Rohingya
Muslims were farmers and peasants. There were fewer men to cultivate the lands
as the Rakhine males enjoyed entertainment rather than working hard. British
policies encouraged the people to migrate to the fertile valleys in Arakan.
Despite the horrific memories many of the Rohingya and Rakhine population
migrated to Arakan from Chittagong. Aye Chan, a xenophobic writer claims the
return of the Rohingya to Arakan as the influx of foreigners into Arakan as he
mentioned Rohingya as Bengali Muslim and surprisingly he was silent on the
issue of Rakhine influx. But Chan didn’t take into account most of these peoples
returned to Arakan to claim their possessions. Naturally the Muslim migrants
were the original Rohingya inhabitants of Arakan returning to their ancestral
homes. The fears of uncertainty were persisted and the returnees driven by the
nostalgia and many Rohingyas preferred to work as laborers. During the 1930 and
1938 anti-Indian riots led by the Monks made the Muslims feel threatened. That
time the British census made things more complicated as they identified the
Rohingyas as Indian Muslims. In 1942, the British withdrawn from Arakan and the
Japanese took control over of Arakan. The Rakhine population getting threatened
of their existence by the Rohingyas, started to draw a plot to throw out the
Muslim population out of Arakan. This time huge number of Rohingya ran away to
Chittagong. There was no action taken by the British to bring back the
Rohingyas. During this time the Rakhine Rohingya relation deteriorated
drastically.
In 1948 Burma earned
its independence, during this time Burma’s democracy leader Aung San tried to
bring the harmony among Burma’s different ethnic communities. But the entire team
of democracy leaders was assassinated by the powerful military regime. The
Rohingyas were further threatened by the development. In 1962, General Ne Win
took over power and confiscated Indian and Chinese owned business and advocated
the Burmanization policy. He proposed Burma is for Burmese population; referring
Burma is for racially mongoloid people and by religion Buddhist. His government
identified Rohingya as Indian Muslims.
The stories of
Rohingyas are as complicated and unfortunate. Till date this minority ethnic
group is going through persecution from time to time and not getting a hard
ground to get stable in. Whatever they have gone through, there is no solution
of the conflict visual even now. The ideologies we followed to get to the
solution may look peaceful but the histories they carry are brutal.