Rohingya Problem and its Solution

Rohingya Problem and its Solution

From ARNO Publication

Who are Rohingya?

1. A Muslim community living in Arakan, Burma /Myanmar with a long history.                                                                                         
2. They trace their ancestry to native Chandras, Arab, Turks, Persians, Afghans, Bengalis and some Indo-Mongoloid peoples.
3. Their Muslim settlements in Arakan date back to later part of 7th century A.D.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
4. The heyday of Arakan developed with the spread of Muslim civilization in Arakan.                                       
5. Today they are not tolerated for their religion and ethnicity and have become victims of genocide, stateless within in their own homeland, and refugees beyond Burma.

Arakan in historical perspective:         

1. Arakan was an independent kingdom until 1784. It found itself at the crossroad of two worlds: Southeast Asia and South Asia, between Muslim-Hindu Asia and Buddhist Asia, and amidst Indo-Aryan and Mongoloid races.
2. Arakan was virtually ruled by the Muslims from 1430 to 1531. From about 1580 to 1666 A.D. nearly a century, Chittagong was under almost continuous Arakanese rule.
3. Because of the political, cultural and commercial links between those two territories, Arakan used to be called ‘extended Chittagong’” and Chittagong greater Arakan.
4. Politically, Chittagong was subjugated by Arakan, but culturally it was Arakan which was greatly influenced by a stronger culture and a more powerful language.” All three languages (Bengali, Persian and Arakanese) were used in the coins of provincial Governors of Chittagong functioning under the administration of Arakanese Governors.
5. The Muslim population of Arakan consisted roughly of four categories, namely, the Bengalee, other Indian, Afro-Asian and native.

Rohingya Problem

1. Rohingya are one of the worl’s most persecuted, voiceless and underrepresented peoples.
2. Rohingya problem is an issue of ‘ethnic, religious and political persecution’ to rid Arakan of the Muslim population. It is a manmade tragedy deeply entrenched in ‘systematic racism and Islamophobia or preoccupation of Muslim phobia.
3. The human rights violations against Rohingya are perpetrated by the government and non-state actors, particularly the Rakhine extremists, under the aegis of the government. Rohingyas are not tolerated in Burna for their religion and ethnicity or for their South Asian appearance as against the Southeast Asian.
4. Since Burmese independence more than 1.6 million Rohingya have been expelled or have had to escape persecution. Most of them are found in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, USA and Canada etc.