Burmese invasion of Arakan & the rise of non Bengali settlements in BD

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

CONCLUDING PART

Burmese invasion of Arakan and the rise of non Bengali settlements in Bangladesh


New Age | Newspaper

Origin of the Tribes of Chittaging Hill Tract (CHT)

by Abid Bahar

Mogh Memories of the past and the rise of anti-Rohingya racist jolts and shaking in Arakan
It was in the Kalandan and Lemro river valleys where Rohingya Muslims were farmers and peasants. There were fewer people to cultivate the land. Rakines males normally love to enjoy entertainment than do the hardwork. Rohingyas were the hardworking peasants. The British adopted the policy to encourage the …inhabitants from the adjacent areas to migrate into fertile valleys in Arakan as agriculturists. … A Superndent, later an Assistant commisioner of Bengal, was sent in 1828 for the administration of Arakan Division, which was divided into three districts repectively, : Akyab, Kyaukpyu, and Sandoway, with an assistant commissioner in each district. After the British conquest, despite the memories of horror, but naturally out of nostalgia, some Rakhines and Rohingya refugees from Chittagong returned to Arakan. Aye Chan, a xenophobic Rakhine writer calls these returnees as the settlements of foreigners in Arakan. He calls them as Influx Viruses. Surprisingly, he remains silent to the Rakhine returnees to Arakanese returning home. He also finds the huge Rakine (Mogh) and Rohingya settlement in Southern Chittagong due to Budapawa’s genocide as normal. He characterizes the slight increase in the Muslim population in Arakan after the British conquest as the settlement by “Chittagonian Bengali Muslims.” Aye Chan’s claim of these people as being Chittagonians is due to the fact that he didn’t take into account the fact that many of the original uprooted people of Arakan returned to Arakan to claim their possessions. Given such a disturbing climate in Arakan after such a destruction by the Burmese king, one wonders, why Chittagonians living in a relatively peaceful region would migrate to Arakan. Naturally, the Muslim migrants were the original Rohingya inhabitants of Arakan returning to their ancestral homes. It is evident from the fact that in the aftermath of the genocide, despite the return of order by the British occupation, but the fear of uncertainity still persisted and the returnees driven by nostalgia and even many other Rohingyas preferred to work in Arakan only as “seasonal labourers.”

1930 and 1938 anti Indian riots
In the meantime, there was 1930 and 1938 anti Indian riots and Burma for Burmese campaign led by the Monks made Muslims of Arakan felt the threat of their existence in Burma but the British census at this time made things more complicated for the Arakani Rohingyas. The British identified the Rohingyas of Arakan as the Indian Muslims.

Japanese Rule (1942-1945)
The next large scale migration of Rohingyas to Chittagong took place during World War II. In 1942 Japan occupied Burma and the ultra-nationalist Buddhists jointly massacred the Karens, the Mons and in Arakan the Rohingyas. Feeling the threat of extinction, and certain Rakhines determined to drive out the Muslims of Arakan, Muslim leaders officially took the already existing name for their suffering community as the Rohingyas. However, Rohingyas were conveniently identified by the Rakhine extremists as being the Chittagonians. During the time of Japanese occupation, the number of Rohingya death in Arakan was staggering to be over 100,000. Rohingyas call the event as the “Karbalai Arakan,” the bloodshed in Arakan.
In 1942 when the British withdrew from Arakan, the Japanese immediately took over control of Arakan. The Arakanese xenophobic hoodlums began to incite people with the slogan, “our brothers came, and your brothers left you.” The hoodlums began to attack the Muslim villages in souhern Arakan and the Rohingya Muslims fled to the North where they took vengeance on the Rakhines in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships Ashraf Alam provides a list of 294 villages destroyed in the pogroms of 1942: (a) Myebon in Kyaukpru District 30 villages; (b) Minbya in Akyab District 27 villages; (c) Pauktaw in Akyab District 25 villages; (d) Myohaung in Akyab District 58 villages; (e) Kyauktaw in Akyab District 78 villages; (f) Ponnagyun in Akyab District 5 villages; (g) Rathedaung in Akyab District 16 villages; and (h) Buthidaung in Akyab District 55 villages. In 1950, a memorandum by the public of Maungdaw demanded the protection of fundamental rights and demanded an unconditional repatriation of Rohingyas from Chittagong. Yoger claims that during this time the Arakani Muslim migration to Chittagong was at 20,000.
There was no action taken by the British to bring the Rohingya refugees back to Arakan. But due to this event, the Rakhine-Rohingya relations deteriorated further. Aye Chan says: “It is certain that hundreds of Muslim inhabitants of southern Arakan fled north. At the same time Chan from his chauvinistic believes contradicted himself by saying that Rohingyas in Butheding, Maungdaw etc. areas in the north bordering Bangladesh are migrants from Chittagong. In this Chan seems to have failed to keep consistency in his arguments.

Rohingya Refugees in Chittagong during U Nu’s period (1948-1962)
In 1948 Burma became independent from British rule. Rohingyas again began to be protection less. Aung San became Burma’s democracy leader. He was trying to bring ethnic harmony through dialogue with ethnic minorities but the entire team of democracy leaders including Aung San was assassinated by powerful quarters who sought to control Burma by force.
1958 Rohingya refugges took shelter in East Pakistan; the number of refugees identified as being 10,000. 1959, Burma agreed with East Pakistan governor Zakir Hossain to take back Rohingya refugees who had taken shelter in Chittagong in 1958. When questioned “why refugees were pouring into Pakistan from Burma, the Govornor replied that the government of Burma had noting to do with it. Actually the Moghs of Arakan were creating the trouble.” In 1960 The Daily Guardian, Rangoon, 27th October 1960 reports that Burmese “Supreme Court quashes expulsion orders against Arakanese Muslims.”
It is true, the disturbances were not entirely foreign inspired. Pumped up in prejudice by the leading Pongyi activist, U Ottama, from 1930’s Arakan became anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim.

Rohingya Refugees during Military rule (1962-)
In 1962, General Ne Win took over power and confiscated most Indian and Chinese owned businesses in Rangoon and began his Burmanization policy which advocated that “Burma is for Burmans,” referring that Burma is for racially Mongoloid and religiously Buddhist people. Ne Win first began a policy of “divide and rule” in Arakan between the Mogh and the Rohingyas. His government identified the Rohingyas as “Indian Bengalis” from Chittagong migrated to Burma during the British period beginning from 1826.
As mentioned warlier, in 1978 an officially recorded 207,172 Rohingyas took shelter in Chittagong. UNHCR and Amnesty International investigation found out that Rohingyas were carrying Burmese National Registration cards. I have personally visited the refugee camps in Ukhiya of southern Chittagong. The area was as if a sea of refugee camps. When asked people if they had any documents proving their citizenship, little children ran to their parents to fatch the documents. I have seen NRC certificates with Burmese seal testifying their Burmese nationality.
This revealation by international agencies, forced the Burmese government to accept the Rohingyas back to Arakan.
In 1982 the military rulers passed the Citizenship Act in which it made a povision that Burmese people’ ancestors who came to settle in Burma before 1826 will be considered as “foreigners. ” Rohingyas were seen as people migrated from Chittagong of Bangladesh after 1826. Aye Chan and other similar Rakhines followed this line of xenophbic interpretation. Aye Chan wrote dehumanizing books and articles, identifying Rohingyas as the Bengali Muslim Immigrants” from Bangladesh. Contrary to such assertions, Rohingya’s earliest ancestory in Arakn however, dates back to the 8th century. Our research shows that Rohingyas called by the Arakan’s Tibeto-Burman population as the Kula were the offsprings of the aboriginl Indian Chandras, Arabs, Persians, the soliders of the Bengal Sultan’s army, the offsprings of the Mogh-Portuhuese captured Bengali slaves, Portuguese offsprings. The name Rohingya was adapted by these people from various origins as a survival mechanism.
In 1990-92 again over 2,68,000 Rohingyas were sent back to Bangladesh. This time the Burmese government made sure that Rohingyas do not carry any official Burmese document. Rohingyas continue to be identified as “foreigners” and now suffer in the land they were born and brought up. The Burma’s military in alliance with the Rakhine ultra-nationalist plays an extermination policy based on fear and intimidation.
Habib Siddiqui identifies some of the major armed operations of intimidation against the Rohingya people, orchestrated by the Burmese government since 1948:
1. Military Operation (5th Burma Regiment) – November 1948
2. Burma Territorial Force (BTF) – Operation 1949-50
3. Military Operation (2nd Emergency Chin regiment) – March 1951-52
4. Mayu Operation – October 1952-53
5. Mone-thone Operation – October 1954
6. Combined Immigration and Army Operation – January 1955
7. Union Military Police (UMP) Operation – 1955-58
8. Captain Htin Kyaw Operation – 1959
9. Shwe Kyi Operation – October 1966
10. Kyi Gan Operation – October-December 1966
11. Ngazinka Operation – 1967-69
12. Myat Mon Operation – February 1969-71
13. Major Aung Than Operation – 1973
14. Sabe Operation February – 1974-78
15. Naga-Min (King Dragon) Operation – February 1978-79 (resulting in exodus of some 300,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh)
16. Shwe Hintha Operation – August 1978-80
17. Galone Operation – 1979
18. Pyi Thaya Operation, July 1991-92 (resulting in exodus of some 268,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh)
19. Na-Sa-Ka Operation, since 1992.
Despite a clear evidence of Burmese invasion and atrocities on the Rohingyas, resulting in the latter to take shelter in Chittagong, xenophobic writer’s continue to propagate that Rohingyas are “Chittagonians. ” The intensity of the nationalist hatred by the military reached so deep into the Burmese consciousness that today even some Burmese people began to believe that indeed Rohingyas are “Chittagonians” from Bangladesh. Contrary to this, the present research found that the production of refugees in general and the Rohingya refugees in particular from Arakan is not a new phenomenon; the study reveals that the internal troubles in Arakan along with the historic Burman invasions of Arakan from time to time led to the rise of not only the tribal people in Chittagong and in Chittagong Hill Tracts,( the Arakanese Rakhine settlements in Bandorban and Cox’s Bazar, a result of mainly 1784 Burmese invasions, the Chakma settlements in Chittagong Hill Tracts) but also the Rohingyas settlements in the entire southern Chittagong area upto the Sangha River close to Bandarbon.
In understanding the refugee problem in Western Burma, the phenomenon of intolerance seems to be the deep-rooted cause. In Burma, Burma’s xenophobic authors continue to brand Rohingyas as the Chittagonians of Bangladesh. Rohingyas are not recognized as the “taingyintha” (indigenous) people of Burma for their racial differences with the Rakhines and the Burmans.
It is an encouraging sign to see that, while the ancestors of the Rakhine Moghs of Bandarbon and Cox’s Bazar, the Chakmas of Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Rohingyas of Southern Chittagong were originally from Arakan took shelter in Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts throughout this period, in Bangladesh, they are not being seen by Bangladeshis as foreigners from Arakan. It is evident that after the independence of Bangladesh these nonbengalis together with the Bengalis are now being identified on their territorial identity as being the Bangladeshis. The Bangladeshi Rohingyas in southern Chittagng, who migrated before 1971 are also being considered as Bangladeshis. Justifiably, in the democratic Bangladesh, no one should question the birth right of citizenship of the Chakmas, the Moghs and the other smaller tribals and the Bangladeshi Rohingyas.
In Arakan however, even after a million Rohingya people left Arakan, who now live in deplorable condition in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, and in the Gulf states, these ultra-nationalists continue to justify that Rohingyas are not Burmese citizens. It appears that the problem in Arakan is deep enough to go away sooner. This is evident from what U Khin Maung Saw, a typical Arakani xenophobe had to say, “As a born Arakanese [I am as a Rakhine author] is obliged to write the true story of the so-called “Rohingyas.” It denied the Rohingya rights by saying “the so-called Rohingya.” Today, Arakan’s true hisory refers to an exclusionist history that Arakan belongs to the Rakhines only and wish Rohingyas should be sent to Bangladesh.
Reacting to the Burmese policy of extermination of the Rohingyas, Saeed Khan wrote: “People have migrated for work or love or whatever reason during the entire history of mankind… If we go by the logic that Rohynga people have roots in Chittagong they should all be thrown out of present day Burma/Myanmar then by that logic every person of nonaboroginal root should be thrown out of Australia, and every person with non native American root should be thrown out of America, every one with roots in West bengal in Bangladesh should be thrown out and everyone with roots in East Bengal should be thrown out of West Bengal/India. And if we keep on going like this we will reach a point where everyone should be thrown out of everywhere as according to science and genetics there is no so called “pure race”. According to science every one in the present world has roots in a group of people out of Africa. So should we all go back to Africa? In sending everybody to Africa, the only problem is that ever since human races left Africa, half of Africa dried up to become the uninhabitable Sahara desert. In the meantime, Burmese invasion of Arakan on the Rohingya people continues and they escape persecution by land and by sea by boat risking their lives; those who survive live in refugee camps as Burma’s stateless refugee people.

Postscript:
In the above article, a review of the historical documents on the orign of the Tribes of Chittaging Hill Tracts show that all the major tribes of Chittagong Hill Tracts, especially the Chakma of Northern Chittagong Hill Tracts, Marma of Bandarbon and the Rakhines of Cox’s Bazar and the Rohingyas settled in Southern Chittagong were originally migrants from Arakan of Burma, the latter one the Rohingyas are the most recent migrants and the Rakhines migrated as late as during the British period.
After the liberation war of Bangladesh, the tribals staged armed rebellion against Bangladesh claiming them as being the aboriginal people; on this ground they even wanted the independence of Chittagong Hill Tracts. In this conflict the tribals armed by India, the total number of people both tribals and Bengalis that lost their lives were 1677 among them 1329 were Bengalis) Artifacts found and the given names of Chittagong Hill Tracts show Bengalis have been in Chittagong Hill Tracts from Prehistoric times. The new Bengali settllers in the Hill Tracts however were people mostly from Northern and South Western Bangladesh who land lost land due to river erosion or from the gradual desertification in those regions and according to the most recent Bangladesh census the population of Chittagong Hill Tracts is 45% Muslim Bengali and the rest comprised 55%.
Bangladesh constitution rightfully accepts the tribals as the citizens of Bangladesh. However, there is a growing concern that Hasina government giving the tribals the aboriginal status and therefore special status over the Bengalis is denying the rights of Bengalis in the land of their birth. In contrast, it is true, India the broker between the Tribals and the Hasina government itself to stop the fear of seperation itself settles non Kashmiris in its occupied Kashmir. Many in Bangladesh fear that Bengali rebellion and the move by Hasina against its Bengali population will help the excelleration of the tribal separatist movement that originally began from the time of Bangabandu Sheikh Mijibur Rahman).

 

[eastwatch]

I am fond of reading history books. I have not yet comleted the article above, I will read it more minutely afterwards. I thank, Captain_Planet for starting this thread. It will die soon, I guess. However, I have saved the material for my own study. I have read about the old past history of Rohingyas, their root and how they became the nationals of Arakan and how they are being threatened with extinction due to the capture of their country by Burma. But, I did not know their expulsion history after 1826 which has been explained in this article.

For every wrong action there is an opposite and equally right reaction. It should have been the duty of each govt after 1947 to pursue the Rohingya issue. But, none did and the present govt is also doing nothing. So, the ball is slowly moving to the hands of BD radical elements. Rohingyas are getting a kind of military training by our rogue elements near Ukhia. However, I would not say it is a wrong reaction to rectify the situation.