An essay on the Rohingya crisis

Rakhine (known as Arakan during British rule) is a province of Myanmar. Buddhists form a majority in Rakhine. But, Muslims, according to one assessment, emerged in Rakhine (Arakan) as early as 8^th century AD, and the distinctiveness of Rakhine Muslims (Rohingyas or Chittagonian Muslims or Chittagonian Bengali Muslims) became evident by the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries.¹ A UN Report on Rohingyas, prepared by a human rights organization, also claims that Rohingyas came to the region in the 8^th century.² However, there is another view that Rohingyas never had millennia long connection with the Arakan state as it is a fabricated story that has no academic acceptability.³ Interestingly, from 1950s, the term ‘Rohingya’ began to be used by the direct descendents of Muslim migrants from Chittagong.⁴ In 1785, the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma occupied Rakhine. Later, the Anglo-Burmese War (1824-26) started, and the British conquered the whole of what they called Arakan (currently Rakhine). Bengali Muslims began to migrate to Arakan, which was encouraged by the British. From 1826 onwards, British companies had been recruiting Bengali Muslims in Arakan in commercial ventures, like mining, cutting of teak trees, constructing roads and bridges, etc. It led to massive Muslim migration, which continued for more than a century. There was a significant economic reason behind the massive migration of Bengali Muslims from Chittagong to Burma. Compare to Bengal, wages in Arakan were very high.⁵ In the estimate of Burmans, who comprise the ethnic majority in Myanmar, a majority of the Muslims currently living in Rakhine are the descendants of the migrants from Chittagong, located in present day Bangladesh. During colonial rule, Chittagonian immigrants turned into a dominant group in some parts of Burma.⁶ Burmans form the ruling circle, although since 1962, the military have (visibly or invisibly) governed the country, and their concept of the essentials of Burmese national culture excludes Rakhine Muslims, obliterating even the distinction between Muslims living in the pre-British era, and those arriving in the British era.⁷ It is important to keep in mind that the Government of Myanmar considers 1826 as a watershed regarding the issue of conferring citizenship rights on the Rohingyas.⁸

One striking fact is that unlike any Muslim-majority country, despite having its own Buddhist identity, Burma was a tolerant country and did not declare Buddhism as state religion. Moreover, non-Buddhists had complete freedom to practise their religion, and more significantly, public opinion in Burma was not in favour of conversion from one religion to another.⁹ None of these progressive features can be observed in any Muslim country in the world. Indeed, British conquest of Burma drastically changed the status quo of Burmese society due to a huge Muslim migration from India. With the substantial growth of immigrants in Burma, Muslims began to develop their religious activities to the fullest extent, such as building of mosques and other religious institutions, which Burmese Muslims had never done before.¹⁰ After the declaration of the British government that Arakan was a part of Bengal presidency, Muslim population in Arakan increased in a colossal fashion, and subsequently reached twenty percent of the total population. Ceaseless Bengali Muslim migration to Arakan led to clashes between Bengali Muslims and the Buddhists. The clash between Buddhists and Rakhine Muslims, currently called Rohingyas, became inevitable, especially because of violent anti-Buddhist activities of the Rohingyas, such as destruction of Buddhist temples, forceful conversion to Islam, etc. The British did nothing to stop such violence conducted by the Rohingyas. Later, during the time of the Second World War, Rohingyas supported the British, whereas Buddhists supported Japan. The British government provided arms to Rohingyas, which were used to kill Buddhists. In 1942, Rohingyas killed 20,000 Buddhists in Northern Arakan. When Japan occupied some parts of Burma, the British government formed Volunteers Force to provide arms training to Rohingyas to fight against the Japanese, and Rohingyas used those arms against the Rakhine Buddhists. Rohingyas killed Rakhine Buddhists and destroyed their religious institutions.¹¹         

In 1948, when Burma got independence, Rohingyas refused to be citizens of Burma, and requested M.A. Jinnah to include Arakan in East Pakistan. Nevertheless, Jinnah turned down their request. The reason behind Jinnah’s refusal was not far to seek.  The Eastern part of Pakistan (called East Bengal till 1956) had a population already exceeding that of the Western part of Pakistan. To add Rakhine Muslims to East Pakistan was to aggravate the population disparity between the two parts of Pakistan—which was a distinct disadvantage in the political arithmetic of any democratic system. Under these circumstances, Rohingyas formed the Mujahid Party in 1948 with an ambition of establishing a Muslim state in Northern Arakan. From 1948 to 1962, Rohingyas destroyed countless Buddhist temples and cultural centres.¹² Subsequently, in 1962, this situation changed when General Ne Win came to power through a military coup. The Ne Win government passed an exclusionary Citizenship Act, which made three categories of citizens–National, Associate, and Naturalised–in 1982. Full citizenship was conferred on 135 national races, officially declared as indigenous groups, who have proven record of ancestry in Burma before 1823, i.e. prior to the first Anglo-Burmese War.¹³ It is important to remember that even in 1971, Burma (called Myanmar since 1989) provided shelter to 75,000 Bengali Muslims, who had been tortured by the West Pakistani military, seeking safety in Burma.

The Islamic terrorist organisation, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), formerly known as Harakah-al-Yakin, wants to establish an Islamic state in Myanmar. It is an undeniable fact that Islamic terrorism is largely responsible for today’s crisis in Myanmar. Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and a number of Arab states are providing all kinds of resources to the Muslim jihadis in Myanmar, which plays a key role to intensify the crisis.¹⁴ Significantly, for a long time, Bangladesh has been patronising the Rohingya terrorists. In 1978, the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) was formed in Chittagong, and it provided arms training to the local Rohingya youths with the help of Imam Abdul Karim of Markaz-e-Islam located in Neela, a border town of Rahkine; all the meetings of RSO used to be held in a hospital, Rabta-e-Islami, located in Chittagong.¹⁵ 

On 25 August 2017, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) concurrently attacked 30 police posts and an army base located in the northern part of the Rakhine state, which led to the present day Rohingya crisis. Indeed, the emergence of such an Islamic extremist group in the region is a matter of huge concern.¹⁶ Abdullah, a representative of ARSA, says that the purpose of the attack of 25 August was self-defence and the restoration of rights of the Rohingyas.¹⁷ Ataullah abu Ammar Junjuni, chief leader of ARSA, was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and he was also an Imam, i.e. Prayer Leader, of the Rohingya community in Saudi Arabia. Also, he took training in guerrilla warfare under the Taliban in Pakistan.¹⁸ Thus the role of ARSA behind the emergence of today’s Rohingya crisis is undeniable.

According to news agencies, in response to the 25 August attack, Burmese troops retaliated against the rebels and burnt down 1,000 homes in 10 areas of the Rakhine state.¹⁹ Facing severe counterstrike by the Myanmar Army, ARSA proposed a ceasefire, which was turned down by the Myanmar Army as it was unwilling to negotiate with the terrorists.²⁰ Undoubtedly, Rohingya terrorists are the primary and the consistent source of disorder in Myanmar. On 7 January 2018, Rohingya terrorists launched an ambush on the Myanmar Security Force in Northern Rakhine.²¹ Thus, Rohingya terrorists are largely responsible for the misfortune of the Rohingyas, who face retaliation by the Myanmar Army.     

As an immediate consequence of retaliation by the Myanmar Army, since 25 August 2017, 290,000 Rohingyas migrated to Bangladesh, says Joseph Tripura, spokesman of UN Refugee Agency.²² An interesting thing is that 66 percent of the migrant Rohingyas are women, and the rest of the people are old, sick, and men below 18 years. Almost no man between the age group from 18 to 40 has  migrated to Bangladesh as they have joined the ARSA to fight against the Myanmar Army. ²³ Strikingly, in a Rohingya refugee camp of Cox’s Bazar, 18,000 women are pregnant and 200 children have already been born, which is a matter of concern for Bangladesh government.²⁴ However, the Relief Minister of Bangladesh, Mofajjel Hussain Chowdhury, states that newly born Rohingya babies are the citizens of Myanmar, and he describes Rohingyas, who are currently living in Bangladesh, as infiltrators.²⁵ London based human rights organisation, Amnesty International, appeals to the international community to ensure that no  Rohingya is pushed back to Myanmar from Bangladesh until normalcy returns in Rakhine.²⁶ Surprisingly, Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim state, is unwilling to provide shelter to its co-religionists, the Rohingyas, on the ground that they are Myanmarese. However, it is written even in the Bangladeshi school text books that Rohingyas had migrated to Myanmar from Bangladesh.²⁷

          India cannot be blamed if India’s position in the Rohingya crisis is favourable to that of the Myanmar government, as India itself is a victim of Islamic terrorism. Therefore, Ashraf Asif Jalali, a Sunni Jihadi Council Cleric, who preaches jihad by Myanmar’s Muslims  and recruits them, even children, in jihadi activities, goes so far as to announce that Modi and Suu Kyi should be hanged.²⁸  The United States promised to press a diplomatic solution, and if its attempt failed, it alerted  Myanmar to the possibility of application of a variety of sanctions.²⁹ The United Nations Security Council,  too,  escalated pressure on Myanmar, as it put forward a unanimous statement calling upon Yangon to terminate its military moves in Rakhine, as also to extend cooperation to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.³⁰  India has set in motion a diplomatic process with Myanmar and Bangladesh, which has sheltered more than  600,000 Rakhine refugees, whereas India finds 40,000 of these  illegal immigrants on its soil as also 14,000 registered by the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees.³¹ The United States Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration has pointed out, following a visit to Bangladesh, that Bangladesh is commendably supporting Rakhine refugees, and that they can voluntarily return to Myanmar if political reconciliation takes place, and conditions become safe.³² An interesting thing is that unlike Rohingyas, Hindus of Myanmar are willing to return to their homeland.³³ This is because Myanmarese forces are not hostile to the Hindus as Hindus are not involved in the terrorist activities in Myanmar.

An interesting fact is that during the time of the Rohingya-Buddhist conflict, Rohingyas killed even the Hindus. The Myanmar Army discovered mass graves of 28 Hindus, who were killed by the Rohingya Muslims, in the  Rakhine state.³⁴ Moreover, in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh, Rohingya refugees  beat Hindu refugees, some of these Hindu refugees were able to escape, whereas a Hindu refugee, Nirendra Pal, was missing, and his brother, Rabindra Pal, was killed by the Rohingyas.³⁵ Hence, it is correct to observe that the ‘peace loving’ Rohingyas are not ready to tolerate any non-Muslims, no matter Buddhists or Hindus, which reflects a crucial characteristic of this Muslim community. One striking thing is that unlike Muslims, the Hindu community was integrated with the Buddhist community in Burma.³⁶ Indeed, a Muslim community is rarely interested in acculturation with any other religious community due to their antagonistic views towards non-Muslims. 

As already mentioned, in a Rohingya refugee camp of Cox’s Bazar, 18,000 Rohingya women are pregnant. Significantly, a survey, conducted by ‘Save the Children’, indicates that around 50,000 children will be born in 2018 in the Rohingya refugee camps of Bangladesh.³⁷ It is important to add that Rohingyas appear to be using the most popular Islamic method, the policy of steadfast increase of Muslim population, to outnumber Rakhine Buddhists. According to a politician of Myanmar, Shwe Maung, “they [Rohingyas] are trying to Islamise us through their terrible birth rate.”³⁸ Likewise, a spokesman of Rakhine State, Win Myaing, said that “The population growth of Rohingya Muslims is 10 times higher than that of the Rakhine [Buddhists]”, and he opines that “Overpopulation is one of the causes of tension.”³⁹ There are numerous grim examples in history on how Islam used the strategy of population growth to destroy indigenous religion and culture. For instance, centuries ago, Indonesia was a Hindu state, whereas now 87.18 and 1.7 percent of the total population of Indonesia are Muslims and Hindus, respectively.⁴⁰ Similarly, Malaysia, which used to be dominated by the non-Muslims, especially Buddhists and Hindus, has now turned into an Islamic country, with Muslims comprising 61.3 percent of the total  population.⁴¹ In addition, it has been shown below how the growth of Muslim population has been changing the demographic patterns in Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh.

Decline of Non-Muslim Population in Chittagong and CHT region (%)⁴²

One can infer from this population statistics that the process of infiltration and gradual settlement of Muslim population in this hilly region is a major reason behind the relative decline of non-Muslim population in the Chittagong and CHT region. Whenever they thought it necessary, Rohingyas migrated from Myanmar and settled in Chittagong.⁴³ 

Here it is important to mention that for decades the policy of the Bangladesh government and political leadership has been to replace gradually the non-Muslim population in the CHT by Muslims. A matter of added concern is that in South Asia, Bangladesh has an aspiration to form a greater Islamic region, comprising West Bengal, Assam, and parts of Arakan, of Bihar, of Meghalaya, and of Tripura.⁴⁴

In this context, the following figures are relevant.

Decline of Population of Hindus in Bangladesh (1941-2011)⁴⁵

 It is very unfortunate that in India, some political parties are campaigning to provide shelter to the Rohingyas for their dirty vote bank politics, which is connected with their Muslim appeasement policy, although it has been proved that Rohingyas have some connection with terrorism. For instance, Hyderabad police arrested a Rohingya, Muhammad Ismail, who was able to get a birth certificate issued from Dumdum, Kolkata. First, he migrated to Bangladesh from Myanmar; then he came to Kolkata from Bangladesh. A matter of great concern is that he had all the crucial documents of Indian citizenship, such as the Aadhaar card, Voter card, Pan card, and also Refugee card issued by the UN.⁴⁶ It is evident that without the help of local political leaders, no foreigner can get these documents, and in West Bengal, leaders of Trinamool Congress (TMC) are the main helping hand of the Rohingyas. It is important to mention here that TMC, the present ruling party in West Bengal, is illegally providing shelter to the Rohingyas. For instance, in the Ghutiyari Sharif of South 24 Parganas, which is a strong centre of TMC, Rohingya infiltrators obtain shelter and financial support illegally from a wealthy local Muslim, Hussain Gazi.⁴⁷ Under the political patronage of TMC, Muslims are extending their support to the Rohingya extremists and infiltrators. Therefore, TMC is vocal about providing shelter to the Rohingyas, and determined to disobey any order on Rohingyas issued by the Central government. Significantly, in Kolkata, several Muslim organizations, along with the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-(CPM)-and the Congress Party, organised pro-Rohingya, anti-Myanmar, and anti-Centre campaigns, whereas  Pir Zada of Furfura Sharif Twaha Siddiqi praises the Chief Minister of West Bengal for her pro-Rohingya and anti-Centre policy. Twaha Siddiqi also threatens that Muslims have the capacity to damage the Consulate of Myanmar in Kolkata. Moreover, in this campaign, Adhir Choudhury, an MP (Member of Parliament) of the Congress Party in Baharampur, West Bengal, openly asks for refugee certificates from the West Bengal Government for the Rohingya refugees illegally settled in Lilua of Howrah.⁴⁸ Despite the fact that all Rohingyas are not terrorists, it is important to remember that even a small number of jihadis are capable of causing mayhem.⁴⁹    

On the question whether India should provide shelter to the Rohingyas or not, the Governor of Tripura, Tathagata Roy, says that when one crore Hindu refugees migrated from East Bengal in the 1950s, and spent days in the Sealdah railway station in Kolkata, no political leader shed their tears, whereas Muhammad Selim of the CPM says that India cannot deny its responsibility towards Rohingyas; this is a direct support for TMC on the issue of Rohingyas.⁵⁰ Besides the above mentioned pro-Rohingya political parties in West Bengal, a number of intellectuals are quite vocal about providing shelter to the Rohingyas.⁵¹ Moreover, from West Bengal, Muslim organisations, like the All India Minority Association, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind, Ahl-e-Hadith, Sunnat-al-Jamat, and Anjuman-e-Jamat-e-Ulema, etc. are consistently sending relief to the Rohingyas located in Bangladesh.⁵² Unfortunately, no organisation sent such relief to the Hindus and Buddhists in Bangladesh or even raised voices against the Muslim jihadis when, to take a few among numerous examples since 1947, Bangladeshi Muslims tortured Buddhists in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in 1990, destroyed many temples, and  in 1992, again, tortured  Hindus and Buddhists. From 2001 to 2004, moreover, during Khaleda Zia’s rule, inhuman torture on Hindus forced a large number of them to migrate to India. Subsequently, in 2012, a number of Buddhist temples were destroyed.⁵³

One can observe that India is not a signatory of the UN Refugee Convention of 1951. Contrary to India’s position on the UN Refugee Convention of 1951, there is a claim that the non-refoulement policy is recognised by article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and as India is a party to international treaties, like the International Covenant on Civil Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which corroborate non-refoulement policy, India cannot turn away its face from the Rohingya refugees. Hence, it is feasible to recommend the formation of a legal structure for refugee settlement in India.⁵⁴ Such a recommendation, favoured by pro-Rohingya individuals/agencies, if carried out, can severely damage the internal security of India. Indeed, it is unfortunate that although Indian secularists and liberals are earnestly pleading in favour of Rohingyas, they never protest against the torture by Indonesia of the people of East Timor, by Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Middle Eastern Muslims on the non-Muslim religious communities, such as Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Zoroastrians, Yazidis, Jews, etc. They also prefer to stay silent on the torture by Boko Haram in Nigeria on the non-Muslims.⁵⁵     

Significantly, according to the reports of the Indian intelligence agencies, Rohingyas are a severe threat to India as there is ample evidence that Rohingyas are backed by the Pakistani terrorist organisations, like Lashkar-e-Taiyaba and Hijbul Mujahidin, and can anytime carry out Islamic State (IS) type ‘lone wolf’ style attacks in India. The Central government of India has impressed such data on the Supreme Court of India in response to the petitions made by two Rohingyas asking for shelter.⁵⁶ As RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has reported to the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office), Rohingyas have links with Jamat Ud Dawa (JUD) of Hafiz Saeed. Moreover, several Indian intelligence agencies affirm that Rohingyas have links with ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, i.e. ISIL, the Arabic name being Daesh, and the shortest form IS). However, opposition groups ignore national interest and urge upon the government of India to provide shelter to Rohingyas. Islamic organisations, such as the Zakat Foundation of India, Jamat e Islam, Jamat e Hind, are supporting Rohingyas. Similarly, Manishankar Aiyar, a top Congress leader, argues that India should open its doors to Muslims as much as to Hindus, whereas Bangladesh and Pakistan are opposing Rohingyas for their terror links.⁵⁷ Moreover, a marriage between a Bangladeshi and a Rohingya it an offence punishable with seven years’ imprisonment. Recently, Dhaka High Court imposed a fine of 100,000 Taka (Bangladeshi currency) on Babul Hossain, because his son, Shoaib Hossain Jewel, married a Rohingya woman and ran away, while his father, Babul Hossain, submitted a writ petition to the High Court for registration of Shoaib’s unlawful marriage.⁵⁸ Interestingly, Bangladesh denies the fact that Rohingyas are Chittagonians.⁵⁹ Significantly, Brussels-based think tank, International Crisis Group (ICG), reports that Rohingya insurgents have connections with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.⁶⁰ It is evident that Pakistan is using Rohingya refugees to destabilise India, as Ashraf Asif Jalali, who is a Sunni Jihadi Council Cleric linked with Lashkar-e-Taiyaba (LeT), has decided to recruit one lakh young jihadis to carry out attacks on India.⁶¹ A matter of concern is that Lashkar-e-Taiyaba and its brother organization, Falah-I-Insaniyat, are very active in the Rohingya refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar.⁶² Interestingly, one Thai intelligence agency has observed that jihadis are recruiting the Rohingya refugees in the southern provinces of Thailand, which proves that the jihadis have a grand plan to terrorise the region.⁶³ Therefore, the Central government of India has no option but to inform the Supreme Court that Rohingyas are ‘illegal immigrants’, and that they are posing serious threats to the national security of India.⁶⁴ Subramanyan Swami, a BJP leader, confirms that Article 2 of the Constitution of India restricts some rights for the sake of sovereignty and security of the country.⁶⁵

It is also important to note that despite not being citizens of India, Rohingyas are able to use the legal instrument via an appeal to the Supreme Court in order to set aside the plea of the Central government that Rohingyas are infiltrators and should be thrown out of India. Significantly, Article 19 of the Constitution of India ensures that only Indian citizens have the right to reside and settle in  any part of India; so, illegal immigrants, e.g. Rohingyas, cannot ask for this fundamental right reserved for the Indians, as stated in the affidavit filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Supreme Court.⁶⁶ Surprisingly, Rohingyas are able to establish settlements in Kashmir, whereas no other Indian from outside Jammu and Kashmir is allowed to settle in the valley. For instance, around 14,000 foreigners, including Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals, are settled in Jammu and Samba Districts, and from 2008 to 2016, their population increased by 6,000.⁶⁷ Contrary to normal Muslim practice, in order to stay in India, Rohingyas have requested the Indian government to consider them as ‘Human’ instead of ‘Muslim’.⁶⁸

Indeed, from the above mentioned discussion, one can easily observe that the Rohingyas are a severe threat to the national security of any country, not to speak of multi-religious and multi-cultural countries, like India. Hence, one cannot take the risk of considering the Rohingya issue from an exclusively compassionate point of view.  

Rakhine Muslims are so desperate that they swim through 2.5 miles of water to reach Bangladesh from Myanmar, sometimes using the risky device of using plastic oil drums for floatation.⁶⁹ But, after crossing over to Bangladesh, refugees, especially children, suffer from severe malnutrition in overcrowded camps.⁷⁰

Myanmar’s most influential civilian leader, Suu Kyi, has visited Rakhine and tried to spread a message of peace.⁷¹ But, neither the international human rights groups nor the refugees themselves appear to feel assured.  The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Gueterres, has met Myanmar State Counsellor, Suu Kyi, and requested Kyi to facilitate the return of refugees to Myanmar.⁷² Interestingly, Suu Kyi appears to benefit from the relative inaction of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the issue of Rakhine Muslims, as was manifest in course of the ASEAN summit in Manila in mid-November 2017.⁷³

According to a 1992 Joint Declaration, Myanmar is to receive 300 Rakhine Muslims from Bangladesh everyday through two check-points. But today Myanmar claims that this repatriation of Muslims will be conditional on Rakhine Muslims supplying proof that they have been inhabitants or citizens of Myanmar, that they are returning voluntarily, that guardians of children born in Bangladesh must be inhabitants/citizens of Myanmar, and that Bangladesh courts can guarantee the nationality of Muslims separated from their families.⁷⁴ Obviously, few in Bangladesh rehabilitation camps can fulfil such conditions. Therefore, in the foreseeable future, Rakhine refugees may have to continue to live in squalid camps, although visits to these camps by such eminent persons as foreign ministers of Germany, Sweden, Japan and the diplomatic chief of the European Union, can only raise a faint glimmer of hope.⁷⁵

The Rakhine Muslim problem—which the world depicts briefly as the Rohingya problem, whereas Myanmar prefers to call it the issue of illegal Muslim immigrants from Bengal/East Pakistan/Bangladesh–is not a sudden phenomenon, nor can it be viewed in total isolation from such other problems affecting India as the Jammu-Kashmir problem and illegal Bangladeshi Muslim migration problem in eastern-northeastern parts of India. The Rohingya problem, moreover, can be placed in the larger framework of the Saudi-sponsored movement for establishment of the extreme Salafi version of Wahabi Islam in different parts of the world.  This is the assessment of the highest religious head of Syrian Islam, the Grand Mufti, Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun. This Grand Mufti, Hassoun, recently visited New Delhi, Srinagar, Lucknow and various other religious centres in India, and provided extremely valuable assessment noted above, while he expressed his amazement at how temples, mosques and universities were operating independently in India and serving comprehensively the interests of the people.  In contrast, as Grand Mufti Hassoun appeared to stress, Saudi Arabia was taking advantage of divisions in the Muslim world and promoting its own authority by the dissemination of extremist Islam.  He pointed to the compelling need for redeployment of militias, trained by Saudi Arabia (and the United States) after the establishment of peace in Syria, as agents of Salafi Islam in new centres of Islamist extremism, e.g. Rakhine. As to Jammu-Kashmir, Hassoun observed that those who equated Islam to terrorism were really conspiring to destroy Islam, and could hardly claim themselves to be Muslims.  Hassoun revealed that the spread of Salafism among Rakhine Muslims was planned by the chief of the ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army), Ataullah or Hafiz Toha, since 2012, when he received necessary instruction and support from Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the Saudi Ambassador to the US.  The Rohingya uprising of 25 August 2017 was planned for a long time by Ataullah, who formed Islamist sleeper cells in Rakhine.  The scale of the uprising was such as to provoke massive military retaliation as also a chain reaction.  Whereas Rohingya infiltrators have been arrested from Assam, Manipur and Tripura (where they entered illegally through Bangladesh), West Bengal remains a free territory with no report of arrested Rohingyas.⁷⁶

ARSA, significantly, is in the proud company of such other terrorist agencies as Pakistan’s Jamat-ud-Dawa (JUD), Jaish-e-Muhammad (JEM), Lashkar-E-Taiyaba (LET), Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), Islamic Chhatra Shibir (ICS), JEM Bangladesh (JMB), as also Myanmar’s Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Arakan.  The activities of all these militant agencies in three countries are being orchestrated by Pakistan’s ISI and Al-Qaeda for fulfilment of the objective propounded in the 2014 videotape of the Al Qaeda Amir, Ayman Al Jawahiri.  The objective is to repeat in Assam in 2019 what was done in Kashmir in 1989, when Hindus in different Muslim-majority areas of Kashmir were driven out by a deft use of terror and propaganda, so as to create free jihadi areas without any presence of Hindus.  Wahabi groups, in collaboration with ISI and Al-Qaeda, are so actively engaged in the formation of ‘Operation Assam 2019’ that they has been able to influence NATO countries, especially Turkey, to campaign in favour of rehabilitation of Rohingya refugees. Moreover, Wahabi groups have masterminded the disbursement of Hawala money to a number of south and southeast Asian countries, which can then arrange the supply of funds to Rohingyas. ‘Operation Assam 2019’ has received a large impetus from the preparation of the National Register of Citizens in Assam, which is allegedly discriminating against Muslims.  Arshad Madani, the President of Jamiat Ulema-E-Hind, has gone further and escalated the complaint of discrimination to that of a conspiracy. He has even threatened that the situation is so explosive as to lead to Myanmar-like disturbances in Assam.⁷⁷

Along with India, however, Bangladesh too faces the threats of militancy and destabilisation due to the recruitment and training of Rohingya refugees by global terrorist organisations in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps of Bangladesh.  Reportedly, a Pakistan Army Major has been entrusted with the supervision of the process of recruitment and training of Rohingya refugees.  Some ostensibly charitable agencies, e.g. JUD and Falah-I-Insaniyat, are also enthusiastic participants in this process. One provocation for such activities targeting Bangladesh Government has arisen out of trials of war criminals of 1971 by the Hasina Government. Nevertheless, any militancy/instability in Bangladesh, caused by Rohingyas, cannot but overflow into India, especially Assam and West Bengal.⁷⁸

By way of mitigation of such instability, India took a positive step on 20 December 2017. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed with Myanmar on that date, signals India’s intention to assist Myanmar in achieving normalcy in Rakhine, while facilitating the return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.  For this purpose, India has promised to build pre-fabricated residences in Rakhine.  Significantly, unlike the Muslim or Western countries, India has not tried to exert any unwelcome pressure or apply sanctions.⁷⁹

References

¹ Cresa L. Pugh, ‘Is Citizenship the Answer? Constructions of belonging and exclusion for the stateless Rohingya of Burma’, International Migration Institute, University of Oxford, Working Paper No. 76 (October 2013), p.4.

² Burma/Bangladesh: Burmese Refugees in Bangladesh – Still No Durable Solution, New York: Human Rights Watch, May 2000.

³ Aye Chan, The Development of a Muslim Enclave in Arakan (Rakhine) State of Burma (Myanmar), SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005, p. 396.

⁴ Ibid., p. 397. 

⁵ Arthur Purvis Phayre, “Account of Arakan”, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 10, 1841, p. 696.

⁶ Chan, op. cit., p. 401. 

^2/7 Pugh, p.12.

^3/8 See Rangan Dutta, ‘Travails of the Rohingyas’, The Statesman, Kolkata, 25 September 2017.

⁹ Moshe Yeagar, The Muslims of Burma: A Study of Minority Group, Otto Harrassowitz: Wiesbaden, 1972, pp. 26-27.

¹⁰ Ibid., p. 27.

¹¹ Chan, op. cit., p.406.

¹² See Atin Das, ‘Rohingyader Durdashar pechhone royechhe santrasheeder apakarma’ (Misdeeds of the terrorists are responsible for the troubles of Rohingyas), Jugasankha, Kolkata, 9 September 2017.

¹³ Swagato Sarkar and Prabhakar Singh, ‘India’s role in Rohingya resolution’, The Statesman, 19 September 2017. Also see Pugh, pp.14-15.

¹⁴ See Atin Das, ‘Rohingyader Durdashar pechhone royechhe santrasheeder apakarma’ (Misdeeds of the terrorists are responsible for the troubles of Rohingyas), Jugasankha, 9 September 2017.

¹⁵ Atin Das, ‘Rohingya sankat dakshin-purba Asiar jonno ek asani sanket’ (Rohingya crisis is an ominous sign for Southeast Asia), Jugasankha, 5 October 2017. 

¹⁶ Mahfuz Anam, ‘Rohingya crisis should concern region’, The Statesman, 9 September 2017. 

¹⁷ “Rohingya rebels cry ‘open war’ as Yangon cracks whip”, The Statesman, 29 August 2017.

¹⁸ Mike Winchester, ‘Birth of an ethnic insurgency in Myanmar’, Asia Times, Hong Kong, 28 August 2017; Paul Millar, ‘Sizing up the shadowy leader of the Rakhine State insurgency’, Southeast Asia Globe Magazine, Phnom Penh, 16 February 2017. 

¹⁹ ‘Army burns Rohingya villages in rebel purge’, The Statesman, 30 August 2017. 

²⁰ After rebels’ truce, Myanmar says ‘we don’t negotiate with terrorists’, The Statesman, 11 September 2017. 

²¹ ‘Rohingya rebels claim ambush on Myanmar security forces’, The Statesman, 8 January 2018.

²² ‘Rohingya arrivals in Bangladesh near 300,000’, The Statesman, 10 September 2017. 

²³ ABP News, 5 October 2017, Videotape.   

²⁴ Jugasankha, 25 September 2017. 

²⁵ Amader Shomoy, Dhaka, 25 September 2017. 

²⁶Jugasankha, 6 October 2017.  Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s army chief, observed in a Facebook post that the army reaction to Muslim militancy was proportionate, that the media exaggerated the number of refugees from Myanmar, and that these refugees were all Bengali Muslims: Mint News, Mumbai, 13 October 2017.

²⁷ Jannatul Ferdousi, Amadershomoy.com, 26 September 2017.

²⁸ Times Now, 18 September 2017, Videotape.

²⁹ AFP report from Dhaka, The Statesman, 6 November 2017.

³⁰ AFP Report from the United Nations, The Statesman, 8 November 2017.

³¹ Statesman News Service report from New Delhi, The Statesman, 8 November 2017.

³² AFP report from Washington DC, The Statesman, 9 November 2017.

³³ ‘Hindu refugees eagerly await return to Myanmar’, The Statesman, 8 January 2018.

³⁴ ‘Mass grave of 28 Hindus killed by Rohingya militants found: Myanmar Army’, Hindustan Times.com, 24 September 2017.

³⁵ ‘Ukhiyay Hindu Saranarthir Lash Uddhar, Rohingyader Biruddhe Hatyar Abhijog’ (Dead body of a Hindu Refugee is found in Ukhiya, Rohingyas are accused of the murder), Amadershomoy.com, 24 September 2017.

³⁶ Yeagar, op. cit., p. 29.

³⁷ Jugasankha, 8 January 2018.

³⁸ Patrick Winn, “Do ‘rapidly breeding’ Rohingya Muslims really threaten Myanmar’s Buddhist identity?” Global Post, Boston, 14 October 2013.

³⁹ ‘2-child limit in Rohingya towns’, The Hindu, 26 May 2013. Interestingly, in the Rakhine refugee camps of Bangladesh, officials are deeply worried about the implementation of family planning measures.  Camps are overcrowded, but the Muslim refugees show little interest in family planning.  Many Muslims have more than one wife, and the number of children can sometimes exceed nineteen.  Officials have been able to distribute less than six hundred packets of condoms to Rakhine Muslims.  But the recipients are reluctant to use these condoms.  Women believe that birth control measures are sinful and anti-Islam. A mother of seven children reports that her husband refuses to wear any condom. Jugasankha, 29 October 2017.

⁴⁰ Achintya Biswas, ‘Khudra Bharater Jatrapala’ (Opera of tiny India), Jugasankha, 13 September 2017.

⁴¹ Population Distribution and Basic Demographic Characteristic Report 2010, Department of Statistics, Malaysia.  

⁴² For this and other relevant details see Population & Housing Census 2011, Zila Report, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Informatics Division, Ministry of Planning, Government of Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh.

⁴³ Daily Janakantha, Dhaka, 3 October 2017. 

⁴⁴ For details, see Bimal Pramanik, Endangered Demography, Kolkata: G.C. Modak, 2005, pp. 5-6.

⁴⁵ These are well known facts for which there are numerous sources. But it is advisable to consult Bangladesh Population Census 2011, and Bimal Pramanik, Endangered Demography.

⁴⁶ Chitradeep Chakrabarty, ‘Hyderabad e Dhrita Rohingyar Janma Uttar Dumdum e’ (Rohingya caught in Hyderabad born in North Dumdum), Ei Samay, Kolkata, 16 September 2017.

⁴⁷ Raktim Das, ‘Ghutiyari Sharife Rajyer Ekmatro Rohingya Shibir’ (The only Rohingya camp of West Bengal is in Ghutiyari Sharif), Jugasankha, 5 January, 2018.

⁴⁸ Ei Samay, 12 September 2017.

⁴⁹ Shantanu Mukharji, ‘Rohingyas and disturbing fallouts’, The Statesman, 1 January 2018.

⁵⁰ Jugasankha, 11 September 2017.

⁵¹ see Jawahar Sarkar, ‘Bharat antata ja korte parto’ (What India could at least do), Ananda Bazar Patrika, Kolkata, 27 September 2017.

⁵² Jugasankha, 6 October 2017.

⁵³ For startling facts, see Jayanta Kumar Ray, Democracy and Nationalism on Trial : A Study of East Pakistan, Simla : Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1968, esp. pp.32-39, 278-82; and  Jayanta Kumar Ray,  India’s Foreign Relations 1947—2007, London/New Delhi : Routledge, 2016, esp. Chapter 6.  The international community took very little interest, except in atrocities by Muslims in CHT.  In sharp contrast to abject negligence by the world community towards atrocities by Muslims on non-Muslims in East Bengal/East Pakistan/Bangladesh over a period of seven decades, the explicit concern for Rohingiyas in 2017 is a pleasant, if not puzzling, surprise: note, e.g. the concern of the European Union and the United States for Rohingyas reported in The Daily Observer, Dhaka, 25 November 2017 and The Statesman, 7 December 2017; “Extremists ‘linked’: 12 Buddhist Temples Torched, 50 Houses Smashed”, The Daily Star, Dhaka, 1 October 2012.

     It is of interest to note that Hindus in East Bengal/East Pakistan/Bangladesh never received any compensation for financial losses due to unilateral atrocities by Muslims.  In contrast, victims of sex slavery, practised by  victorious Japanese soldiers in areas including present day South Korea, have received substantial (even if inadequate) compensation from the government of Japan: see, e.g. Walter Qim, ‘Cannot be Swept Under the Carpet’,  The Statesman, 24 December 2017.

⁵⁴ Saurabh Bhattacharjee, ‘India needs proper refugee legislation’, The Statesman, 8 September 2017.

⁵⁵ ‘Rohingyas threat to national security’, The Statesman, 19 September 2017.

⁵⁶ ‘Rohingya Srote Bharate Dhhukche Pak Jongira’ (Pakistani Terrorists are entering in India with waves of Rohingyas), Jugasankha, 15 September 2017.

⁵⁷ Times Now, 13 September 2017, videotape.

⁵⁸ Daily Janakantha, 8 January 2018; AFP report from Dhaka, The Statesman, 9 January 2018.

⁵⁹ Chan, op. cit., p. 415.

⁶⁰ Jacob J., ‘Rohingya militants in Rakhine have Saudi, Pakistan links, think tank says’, International Business Times, New York, 15 December 2016; Simon Lewis, ‘Myanmar’s Rohingya insurgency has links to Saudi, Pakistan’, Reuters, 16 December 2016.

⁶¹ Times Now, 18 September 2017, Videotape.

⁶² Mausam Akan, ‘Bangladesher Rohingya Shibire Gopone Sakriya Lashkar-e-Taiyaba!’ (Lashkar-e-Taiyaba is secretly active in the Rohingya camps of Bangladesh), Jugasankha, 11 January 2018.

⁶³ Shantanu Mukharji, ‘Rohingyas and disturbing fallouts’, The Statesman, 1 January 2018.

⁶⁴ ‘Rohingyas threat to national security’, The Statesman, 19 September 2017.

⁶⁵ Times Now, 18 September 2017, Videotape.

⁶⁶ ‘Rohingyas threat to national security’, The Statesman, 19 September 2017.

⁶⁷ ‘We settled in J&K out of compulsion: Rohingya’, The Statesman, 21 August 2017.

⁶⁸ Jugasankha, 12 September 2017.

⁶⁹ AP report, ‘Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh’, The Statesman, 14 November 2017.

⁷⁰ See, e.g. AFP report from Balukhali, Bangladesh, The Statesman, 11 November 2017.

⁷¹ Jugasankha, 9 November 2017.

⁷² PTI report from Manila, The Statesman, 15 November 2017.

⁷³ AP report from Yangon, The Statesman, 14 November 2017.

⁷⁴ Report from news agencies in Rakhine, Jugasankha, 1 November 2017.

⁷⁵ AFP report from Dhaka, The Statesman, 18 November 2017.

⁷⁶ Information in the preceding paragraph has been collected from a long article by Atin Das, Jugasankha, 19 October 2017.

⁷⁷ For an elucidation of data in the preceding paragraph, see Atin Das, Jugasankha, 18 November 2017.

⁷⁸ Shantanu Mukharji, ‘Rohingya influx poses security challenge’, The Statesman, 20 October 2017.

⁷⁹ For an appropriate commentary on this India-Myanmar MoU, see an editorial ‘India and Rakhine’ in The Statesman, 25 December 2017.

Published in Dialogue, Vol.19, No.2, Oct.-December 2017, pp.73-89, New Delhi.