Estimated: 20,000 + Dead, 1000's displaced
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROHINGYA STORY
Area: Rakhine, Burma (Myanmar)
Cause of Death: Gun shots, Explosions, Dismembering, Torture, Rape
Responsible: Rohingya forces made up from British sponsored, V-Force Guerrilla Unit
Death Count: 20,000
Time Period: 1942 (20,000 Buddhists), 2017 (100 Hindus)
Dharmic Faiths: Indigenous Rakhines & Buddhists & Hindus
There are many articles, videos and coverage of the Rohingya side of the story and almost no fair coverage from the native Buddhist, Hindu and Indigenous populations. We find it hard to believe that this story is simply a one sided attack on the majority muslim Rohingya's and in the article we present events from the Buddhist, Indigenous and Hindu viewpoints that could have spurred off this resentment and treatment of the Rohingya people. We are aware there were atrocious acts committed by both sides of this story and we do not condone mistreatment of any innocent living beings. You may argue that we are being biased, but the same Humanitarian groups that claim the Rohingya crisis to be the worst crisis of the 20th Century say nothing of the 8+ million Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists that have gone missing in Pakistan since partition. We feel that the Genocide of 20,000 Rakhine Buddhists, including Deputy Commissioner U Oo Kyaw Khaing and 100's of Hindus cannot be ignored as a significant event that contributed towards the Rohingya crisis.
Ashwin Wirathu - Leader of Myanmar's 969 group
Buddhist monk and leader of the '969' group has seen a lot of controversy for his statements against the Rohingya populations of Burma. He actively speaks out about what he says is destruction of the native culture of his country. He speaks out against what he see's as tactics used by Rohingya's to turn Burma into yet another Islamic state including destruction of Buddhist and Hindu spiritual sites, forced conversions and the massacres of non muslim communities. He has been attacked and even thrown in Jail for his views, accused of stoking violence. But is he being attacked for simply trying to defend his Dharmic way of life, we look at some of the events below.
Ashwin Wirathu, leader of the '969' group and Ma Ba Tha Movement
Who Armed & Trained the Rohingya?
Short Answer: The British
Even before WW2 the British had overseen the movement of a significant amount of Indian Muslims into Burma. So much so that they changed the demographics of the entire country with yearly migrations of up to 480,000 people a year (1927) into a native population of just 13 million.
Did Britain then once again mistakenly (or so they say) sows the seeds of conflict between the Muslim and Buddhist populations of Burma by arming, recruiting and training the Rohingya Muslims with a unit called V-Force in 1942. V-force was a guerrilla unit designed to stay behind and prevent the Japanese from launching an attack on India, which actually happened two years later in 1944. It was led by Brigadier A. Felix Williams and other British officers were active in this unit. The British armed Muslims in North Arakan that could create a buffer force to prevent the Japanese from attacking if they retreated and to provide a counter balance to pro Japanese Rakhine people.
Some British officers like Andrew Irwin believed that Muslims should be regarded for their efforts and this was echoes in the sentiments of Muslim leaders, who believed the British had promised them a Muslim National Area in Maungdaw region. Once WW2 was over and V-force had provided some disruption to the Japanese, the Muslim Rohingyas of V force turned their guns on the indigenous Rakhine's and the resulting genocide resulted in 20,000 dead and the destruction of Buddhist monasteries, pagodas, and houses in the Arakan Massacres 1942.
The British trained the V-Force Guerrilla Unit, seen here in Burma
Timeline of Events
A History Of Provocation
- Islam arrives in 7th to 9th century
- Arab Merchants settle in Burmese ports, these merchants have more then just an interest in trade and start converting the local Buddhists into Islam
- Arab merchants begin taking wives from local population, further growing the presence of Islam
- Heavy Muslim population increases in some areas threaten indigenous people and their way of life, British Census in 1872, reported a population of 58,255 muslims in Kyab district, which had then increased to 178,647 by just 1911.
- Some historians claim the population migrations from Indians at the rate of 250,000 per year, unsettling the native population of just 12 million.
- Before Burmese Independence in 1948, almost all Muslim leaders from the Arakan region of Burma pledge allegiance to Muhammad Ali Jinnah and requested support to for assistance from Pakistan to create an Islamic state within Burma that could be later merged into East Pakistan.
- 'North Arakan Muslim League' founded but movement suffers from lack of support from Jinnah.
- Elder Rohingyas supported Jihad movement and created the 'Mujahadid' party, whose aim is to create an 'Autonomous Islamic State' in Arakan
- Although some muslims has been in Burma since the 7th and 8th centuries, the majority of the Rohingya arrived with British Colonialist in the 19th and 20th centuries
- British provide the Rohingya muslims with weapons and support and create V Force a unit composed of British and Rohingya muslim officers with the stated intention of them resisting the Japanese and Pro Japanese forces.
- The Rohingya instead turn their attention on their neighbours and friends that supported the Japanese
- 1942 - Rohingya Muslims kill around 20,000 indigenous Rakhines
- 1971 - 1978 Rakhine and Buddhist Monks stage hunger strikes to protest to government about alarming demographic shifts, reporting continuing Islamification of entire regions.
- 2012 - Murder and gang rape of Indigenous Rakhine woman leads to state wide riots and casualties on both sides.
- 2016 - Jihadist Insurgents kill 13 soldiers and border officers in 4 terror attacks staged over just a few days
- 2016 - Government announces the deaths of 17 more security forces from clashes with armed Islamic Militants
- 2017 - 25th of August sees more attacks from the Rohingya rebel group (ARSA, or Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) killing a dozen security forces on attacks on 30 police and border offices.
- Retaliating attacks from Government forces displaces 12,000 Rakhine Buddhists, and other non-Muslim Rakhine state residents within the country
- 2017 - 100 Hindu's from Rakhine state get hacked to death or their throats slit by 300 ARSA militants in late August according to the testimony of a refugee. Myanmar military confirm the testimony and dig up mass graves in a village called 'Ye Baw Kya' with the bodies of 45 woman and children in them. These were the women and children that were not taken as wives by the Muslim terrorists, who were apparently upset that the Hindu's had received ID cards from the Myanmar government.
- ARSA burns 9 Hindu villages, resulting in more than 500 Hindu refugees fleeing across the border to Bangladesh
- Hindu women from an earlier attack were later found in Bangladesh after being forced to marry Rohingya Muslim men, convert to Islam and report being forced to eat meat and wear Burqua.
- Thousands of Hindu's forced to find refugee amongst other Hindu families and outside of the country, they are highly uncomfortable being with Muslim refugees
The V-Force Guerrilla Unit, many of it's ranks would later to go on to form Rohingya Extremists
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