Now, the longrunning
insurgencies of minorities such as the Karens and Mons,
which broke out soon after the British departure in 1948, are generally wellknown
around the world. However what is often forgotten is that the armed
conflict in Arakan never really subsided after 1945. Amongst the ethnic Rakhine
population, for example, a number of different armed and communist factions,
spearheaded by a former Buddhist monk, U Seinda, fought against both the
British (before their departure) and the first postindependence
government
under prime minister U Nu after Aung San's assassination.
Meanwhile, amongst the Muslim community, there were both aboveground
and underground movements which demanded that the Muslimmajority
Mayu
Division, which adjoined the Naaf River border, should either become independent
or joined into the newlyformed
East Pakistan. This is something that many
Burmese leaders have never forgotten or forgiven, leading to the insistence by
some officials and politicians that the Muslims are really foreigners illegally trying
to seize Burma's land. I would also add here that one can probably date to this
struggle over territory at independence an argument and division amongst the
Muslims of Arakan themselves,which has still not been reconciled; over the past
50 years a split has emerged between those who have traditionally described
themselves as "Arakanese Muslims" as a religious group within the Arakanese
peoples and
those Muslim nationalists, largely concentrated in the north, who
prefer to call themselves "Rohingyas". This latter expression is a term that has
become increasingly popular in recent years and will be returned to in a minute.
From independence in 1948, Arakan like
many other regions of Burma –
was rocked by political violence. The political demands of both the Muslim and
Buddhist communities were both overlooked by the central government in
Rangoon, and Arakan was not even granted ethnic statehood although,
as
evidence of strong constituency support, four Muslims did win seats in elections
to the new parliament. As a result, while communists and armed Rakhine
nationalists seized control of many of the towns throughout Arakan, hundreds of
armed Muslim supporters flocked to join the popular Muslim singer, Jafar
Hussain (aka Jafar Kawwal), who had formed the first Mujahid Party in
Buthidaung township in December 1947 to press the demand for an Islamic state
in the north.