History of Rohingyas

The Rohingyas are an ethnic minority group who live in the West coast of Rakhine State in Myanmar. Rohingyas are considered to be the most persecuted minority in the world. They are an ethnic group, where majority of the people are Muslim. There are also many Rohingyas who are Hindus. They speak in Rohingya dialect, which is different from other dialects spoken in Myanmar. Currently there are almost 1.1 million Rohingyas living in Myanmar. Government of Myanmar does not recognize Rohingyas to be one of the 135 official ethnic groups of Myanmar and had been denied citizenship since 1982.

Location :

Rakhine state was previously known as Arakan. Rakhine state is situated in the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal from Naf river. Naf river is near the Chittagong border. The Arakan Yoma , a mountain range that was formed on the eastern boundary seperates Rakhine from rest of Myanmar.

8th Century
They have been living in the independent Arakan kingdom since the 8th century. Arakan later came to be known as Rakhine State in modern day Myanmar.
9th to 14th Century
In between 9th to 14th century Rohingya people came into contact with Arab traders. During that time many traders settled there and married local people. Many local people accepted Islam. That is how Islam spread in Rakhine State. Ties forged between Arakan and East Bengal.
1057
In 1057 Anawrahta captured Mon city of Thaton, which was a Centre of Indian civilization. Thus Anwrahta became the first king of unified Burmese state. He was converted into Theravada Buddhism by a monk Shin Arahan. In his reign he tried to convert his subjects into Theravada Buddhism.

1406
Burmese King Khaung Yaza conquered capital of Arakan, Mrauk U. Arakan King Min Saw Mon escaped from Arakan and sought for asylum in Bengal. At that period Sultan Giasuddin Azam Shah permitted Min Saw Mon to stay in Bengal.

1430

After 24 years staying in Bengal, Min Saw Mon returned to Arakan. With assistance from Bengal Sultanate he regained his power and took over Arakan. Then he converted to Islam and took the name of Sulauman Shah. He became the King of Arakan. The Bengalis who went to Arakan with him remained there.

1660
After Mughal emperor Shah Jahan fell ill, power crisis occurred. And at that time Mughal prince Shah Shuja tried to succeed to the Mughal throne. But he failed, Prince Aurangzeb ascended to the Mughal throne. Shah Shuja marched to the capital to fight against Aurangzeb, but he lost the battle. At first Shah Shuja fled to Bengal, there he fought with the newly appointed Governor of Bengal Mir Jumla. Mir Jumla was appointed by Emperor Aurangzeb. Shah Shuja lost in battle to Mir Jumla. Shah Shuja came to know that he was going to be surrounded inTandah, then he decided to leave Bengal for good and take shelter in Arakan. According tolate Mr. G.E. Harvey, historian of Burma, Shah Shuja left for Arakan because the then Arakan king Sanda Thudhamma promised to provide him with ships, by which Shah Shuja could go for pilgrimage to Macca. Eight months passed, but the Arakan king did not fulfill his promise of providing Shah Shuja with enough ships to travel to Macca. Sanda Thudhamma asked Shah Shuja for hand of his daughter in marriage. Shah Shuja rejected the proposal and considered the proposal to be dishonor. Because of Shah Shuja’s refusal to this marriage proposal relation between Shah Shuja and the Arakan king deteriorated. Shuja arrived Arakan with half a dozen camel loads of gold and jewelry. Arakan king Sanda Thudhamma was overwhelmed with greed for gold, so he betrayed Shah Shuja. It is said that after escaping from the capital, Shah Shuja was killed by the pursuers sent by the Arakan king. Many who followed Shah Shuja to Arakan were massacred. Shah Shuja’s soldier’s who escaped massacre had to join the Arakan king’s bodyguard as special archers unit called Kamans or Kamanci.

1784

In 1784 Burman King Bodawpaya conquered Arakan and incorporated with his kingdom in central Burma. As a result of his invasion many refugees fled to Bengal, present day Cox’s Bazar area of southern Chittagong. In the year 1790 Captain Hiram Cox was appointed by the British East India Company with the task of rehabilitating those refugees. Cox’s Bazar was named after him. Some of the dissatisfied Rohingya that fled from Rakhine started to conduct raids against the Burman King. Once the Rohingya insurgents were able to capture much of Arakan. But ultimately they couldn’t win. They were pushed back into Cox’s Bazar and many of them later did not return to Burma.

1824-1826

Between 1824-1826 First Anglo-Burmese War occurred. This War arose because of the conflict between Arakan And British held Chittagong in north. After defeat of Arakan in 1784 Arakanese refugees escaped north into British territory and formed sanctuaries in Bengal. In Bengal they formed contingents and started attacking Burmese garrisons in Arakan. At one point refugee contingents captured provincial capital of Mrohaung. In response Burmese forces crossed into Bengal, faced by the Bengal authorities they had to withdraw. In 1823 Burmese forces marched towards the Bengal, British forces faced them with a large force. The treaty of Yandabo in February 1826 formally ended the First Anglo-Burmese War. Burma had to surrender the Arakan coastal strips to the British rulers.

1852
British Indian government sent a naval officer, Commodore Lambert to Rangoon to investigate British merchant’s allegation of being extorted. The naval officer seized a ship that belonged to the Burmese king. This resulted in another war. British forces captured lower parts of Burma and started marching towards the capital. New king of Burman Mindon Min requested the return of British forces, but the British forces refused to return. At one point the fighting simply stopped.

1885-1886

In this period the third Anglo-Burmese War occurred. Through this war Britain got control over Burma. Burma became a province of British India.

In the period of 1824-1942 many workers were migrated to Burma from other parts of British India for infrastructure projects. Because Myanmar was considered as a province of British colony of India, such migrations were considered internal. The migration of laborers was viewed negatively by the majority of native people.

1911

In the 1911 census, Rohingya were included with the Indian population as an ethnic group of Indian origin.

1921

Census in 1921 categorized Rohingyas as Arakanese.

1937
Britain separated Burma from Indian Subcontinent and made Burma another colony of the British empire.

BIA (Burmese Independence Army)
British authority issued a warrant of arrest against one of the Burmese leaders Aung San, but he escaped to China. There Aung San tried to gain help from radical groups. Japanese government promised to assist him. Japan promised to give Burma freedom. Aung San secretly went back to Burma gather 29 young men and took them to Japan for taking military training. These 29 young men later came to be known as 30 Comrades. When Japanese troops reached Bangkok in 1941, Aung San declared the formation of Burma Independence Army(BIA). Japanese troops advanced towards Burma and by 1942 they seized Burma. Burmese leader BA Maw was made the first Prime Minister of Burma under the Constitution of 1937 by the Japanese authority. Aung San was made a member of the cabinet of BA Maw. As the British withdrew from Burma Burmese nationalists started attacking on Muslim communities, as they believed that Muslim people benefited from the colonial rule. This belief of Burmese nationalist leaders was based on the fact that Rohingya Muslims supported the British And it was the British colonial rule helped them to migrate in Burma.

1942

When World War II started in Europe in 1939 Burmese leaders wanted to what benefits they would get before supporting Britain. When Japanese forces advanced to Arakan, cruel measures were taken against Muslim communities by Buddhists. Japanese forces sided with Buddhists, as they were the majority in population. Many Muslims of Arakan had to escape to Bengal. In December 1942 to 1943 British countermeasures to force Japanese forces out of Burma was failing. Japanese forces were able to strengthen their hold on majority Muslim inhabited region of Arakan. And as a result many Muslims had to abandon their homes. In April 1942 British forces formed a guerrilla unit named Force V. Many Muslims from joined this unit. Many Muslims of Arakan played vital roles in the operations of Force V such as in reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, rescuing injured soldiers and providing medical aid . Muslim religious leaders supported the British forces. And these religious leaders inspired villagers to help the British forces in any way they could. In 1944 British regained control over Maungdaw. The British gave Muslims positions in local authorities. Then Muslims started to retaliate against Buddhists, who joined Japanese in torturing them.

When the tide of the war was turning Japan declared Burma as a sovereign state, which was in fact not true. In reality Japanese army were the one who were ruling Burma.

1945
Aung became doubtful of the Japanese promises to give independence to Burma. He did not like the way Japanese authority were treating Burmese leaders. Aung San contacted with Lord Mountbatten, the commander of Allied forces in Southeast Asia and offered to cooperate with him. Burma was liberated by British forces with the help of Burmese nationalist leader Aung San and Rohingya fighters. Rohingya fighters felt betrayed as Britain did not fulfill their promise of autonomy for Arakan.

1947
Aung San along with six other members of his interim government were assassinated by one of his nationalist rivals.

1948

Tension increased between the government of newly independent Burma and Rohingyas, as Rohingyas demanded that Arakan be joined with a state which had Muslim majority as population, Pakistan. The government of Burma took strict action against any who made such demand. The government of Burma removed Rohingya from government services.

1950
Some Rohingyas resisted the government of Burman forming a group called Mujahids. But their resistance did not continue for long.

1962

General Ne Win seized power. His Burma Socialist Programme Party took control of power. They took strong actions against the Rohingyas.

1977
The military Junta began operation in Nagamin. They claimed they were screening the population for foreigners. In that period there were widespread allegations against the Junta of killing and torturing Rohingya population. More than 200,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh and there were allegations of army abuse. But the Burmese army denied all such allegation.

1978

Bangladesh made a deal with Burma with the help of UN under which most of the Ronhingya returned to Burma.

1982

A new immigration law was made. Under this law people who migrated during British rule were redefined as illegal immigrants. The law recognized three categories of citizens : citizen, associate citizen and naturalized citizen. Citizens were considered to be as defined by their 1947 Constitution, persons who belong to an ‘’indigenous race’’ or lived in British Burma prior to 1942. Non-citizens were given foreign registration card. Rohingyas were given foreign registration cards, as a result their opportunity to persue education and getting jobs became very low. The law did not recognize Rohingyas as one of the 135 legally recognized ethnic groups of Myanmar. Thus Rohingyas lost their citizenship and became stateless.

References :

https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2016/12/23/timeline-a-short-history-of-myanmars-rohingya-minority/

https://thewire.in/179759/rohingya-myanmar-timeline/

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/08/rohingya-muslims-170831065142812.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-18395788

https://www.britannica.com/place/Myanmar/The-emergence-of-nationalism#ref509624

http://madhukidiary.com/sons-of-shah-jahan-in-a-battle-for-power/

https://books.google.com.bd/books?id=S5q7qxi5LBgC&pg=PA33&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false