History of Rakhine State and the Origin of Rohingya Muslims

Abstract

Myanmar is a resource-rich country especially in oil and gas. The country is involved in ethnic conflicts since its independence in 1948. Recently violation of human rights against the Rohingya Muslims become severs. The main cause of Rohingya crisis is a question about its origin. Rakhine (or Arakan) is a State located in the west coast of Myanmar. The population of Arakan State is largely agrarian and more than 43.5% live below the poverty line. The Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group in Rakhine, consider as the most persecuted, vulnerable, and oppressed minorities around the globe. Recently, the persecution on Rohingya Muslims has increased due to Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar. Rohingyas are continued to suffer from several forms of restrictions and human rights violations in Myanmar due to deny Myanmar citizenship. They are victim of various oppressions, such as, arbitrary taxation, land confiscation, destruction of mosques, torture and ill-treatment, extrajudicial executions, restrictions on movements, forced eviction and house destruction, forced laborers on roads and at military camps, and financial restrictions on marriage. Oppression on Rohingya started since 1962, when General Ne Win took power of Myanmar after a coup. Since the 1970s, a number of crackdowns on the Rohingya in Rakhine have forced hundreds of thousands to flee to neighboring countries. Sever Rohingya oppression took place in 2017 and 2018. More than one million Rohingya have migrated in Kutupalong-Balukhali, and Nayapara refugee camps, respectively, in Ukhia, and Teknaaf of Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh. This article deals with the origin of Rohingyas and their citizenship in the Rakhine State of Myanmar.

Structural Violence Ensues in Myanmar: The On-Going Ferocity Against Rohingya Muslims

“…To further understand the characteristics of the typologies of violence given by Galtung, Table 1 has been drawn to explain the relationship between the typologies of violence and the situation of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. (Mohajan, 2018). This attitude has become part of the social structure and infused itself into Myanmar's societal culture.…”

“…Despite these different and conflicting debates, it remains true that Muslims have been part of Arakan for hundreds of years (Mohajan, 2018), but due to cultural discrimination, economic exploitation, religious differences and political deprivation (Wolf, 2017), the Rohingya in Myanmar have become victims of persecution. They are denied all kinds of foreign aid and are kept in complete isolation and locked down from the outside world.…”

The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are Victim of Genocide!

“…Haradhan Kumar Mohajan has indicated that more than one million Rohingya have migrated in Kutupalong-Balukhali, and Nayapara refugee camps, respectively, in Ukhia, and Teknaaf of Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh has provided shelter, food, clothes, treatment, and other humanitarian aid to these Rohingya migrants (Mohajan, 2018). Christina Szurlej has analyzed the aspects of genocides against the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar.…”

“…In response, about 100 Rohingya were killed (including 10 Muslim pilgrims traveling on a bus in Toungop), and 120,000 were displaced. Many dead bodies either burned or disappeared during the persecution (HRW, 2012;Mohajan, 2018). In Yan Thei village in Mrauk-U Township, about 70 Rohingya are killed (HRW, 2013).…”

“…The Tatmadaw also deployed more than 70 battalions (about 30,000-35,000 soldiers) into Rakhine State and launched clearance operations. More than 620,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh since 25 August 2017, and took shelter in established refugee camps in Cox's Bazar (Martin, 2017;Mohajan, 2018). The UN has described it as a 'textbook example of ethnic cleansing' (UN News Centre, 2017).…”