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Ullah, Akm Ahsan(2011) ’Rohingya Refugees to Bangladesh: Historical Exclusions and Contemporary Marginalization’, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies Rohingya refugees from the Arakan state of Myanmar found their ways a number of times to Bangladesh to escape state-sponsored persecution. While there is no dearth of studies on refugees, Rohingya has so far received very little research attention. This article tries to understand the dynamics and severity of reported humiliation by the government on the Rohingya population, and how are they marginalized in their destination points. A qualitatively and quantitatively designed questionnaire was used to interview 134 refugees from two existing camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses reinforce that the level of abuse and persecution perpetrated upon them surpass all human rights standards. This was confirmed by both the in-depth and the case studies. These people were forced out by state-sponsored persecution and again they are forced to be repatriated due to the fact that Bangladesh cannot afford to welcome them back.
Over half of Myanmar’s population consists of individuals from diverse ethnic groups2 with substantial numbers of kin beyond its borders. The Beginning in 1824, British ruled Burma for 64 years and incorporated it into its Indian Empire to administer as a province of India until 1937, when it Downloaded By: [Ullah, AKM Ahsan] At: 10:01 14 June 2011 Rohingya Refugees to Bangladesh 141 became a self-governing colony (Aung, 1967; Yegar, 1972); the independence from the Commonwealth was attained in 1948. General Ne Win dominated the government from 1962 to 1988 (Asia Watch, 1992), first as military ruler, then as self-appointed president. Legislative elections were held in 1990 and the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD),3 won a landslide victory. The ruling junta, however, refused to hand over power. That was the pathway to sending democracy to exile for Myanmar.
