continuation of Part ( 1 ) MYANMARS GENOCIDE AGAINST INNOCENT ROHINGYAS: The Rohingya minoritys story in.Myanmar does not start with the outbreak of violence in 2012. Discrimination and marginalization against our Rohingyas dates back to post-British occupation of Burma with one of the significant point being, the 1982 citizenship law . introduced by then military dictator General Ne Win, who stripped the Rohingya of their citizenship and made them stateless within their own state. Now the quasi government of U Thein Sein labeled all Rohingyas as Bengalis , claiming that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh although Bangladesh only came into existence in early 70s from East-Pakistan I was in my Buthidaung home when East -Pakistani planes were flying over Buthidaung seeking refuge from the Indian forces and he Bangladesh Rifles or BDR. The memory is still vivid in my mind today. Let me pick up the question of our ethnicity. We Rohingyas were in the coastal strip of Arakan mingling with the local Rakhines since the 7th century. Burmans or Myanmars established its first Burmese Dynasty in Bagan by King Anawrahta in 1044 AD. These Burmans mostly came from Tibet or Chinese province of southern Yunnan. If you work on a little mathematics our existence in Arakan is 700 AD and the first Burmese Empire was founded in 1044 AD. That shows that we Rohingyas were on the soil of Burma 600 years earlier than the Burmans. This is what history defines. Before King Anawrahta there were AYEEGYI RAHANS from India in Burma. They were dominated around Tagaung near Pyay (Prome )and the UN World Heritage is going to recognize Tagaung as a world heritage place like Bagan. The first thing King Anawrahta did was to find a clean and . purified religion. Islam did not exist near or central Burma. Of course Islam was worshipped by Muslims in Arakan but there was the Arakan Yoma that divides Arakan from Burma proper and so Islam could not reach Bagan. King Anawrahta looked for other options. His eyes fell on King Manohar from Thaton , who was practicing Buddhism from Sri Lanka in his Mon Kingdom. And King Anawrahta has to wage war with King Manohar and captured the Theravada Buddhist scriptures and brought the Buddhist monks together with all the workers from all walks of life to Bagan. In fact Mon were the earliest people who settled in Burma before the Bamas. They were the descendants of Mon Khmer group which flourished to Cambodia and the people there were called Khmer. And the Queen of Rama V , or King Chulalongkorn of Thailand was a Mon. So I am wondering how the Rakhines and the Bamas call us Bengalis instead of Rohingya who have been living in Burma since 700 AD ? end of Part ( 1 ) Saif Ali Khan 26/7/2014
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 06:19:51 +0000
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