Page 181 - Seekers Guide Book

The Seeker’s Guide

1 What is the Rohingya crisis?

rom the ninth century onwards, Arab and other
Ftraders have visited the Rakhine state, formerly
Arakan, on the western coast of Burma (Myanmar),
and in the early days, a group of them settled there. As
a result of interaction with the local population, Islam
gradually spread, until a large part of the Rakhine state
became Muslim. For centuries, the Muslims of Arakan
lived peacefully with the rest of Burma and had no
separatist tendencies. However, when East Pakistan was
formed in 1947, certain emotional Muslim leaders tried
to make a separate Muslim state out of the region where
the Rohingya people lived. They described their efforts
as ‘self-determination’. This movement picked up pace
and many extremist Muslims took an active part in it.
The Myanmar central government saw these actions as
revolt, as in essence, it was a movement for separation
from Myanmar. Prior to the insurgency, Rohingya
Muslims had lived peacefully alongside the other people
of Myanmar. But emotional speeches made by separatist
leaders kindled separatism in the Rohingya. To curb their
activities, the Myanmar government took tough action
and stern measures against them, which, according
to Rohingya leaders, were an act of ‘oppression’. The
government’s response was designed to bring discipline
to their country. In 1971, when Bangladesh was formed,
it gave a kind of political boost to the Rohingya leaders,
who further intensified their separatist activities, due to
which the Myanmar government reacted more stringently

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