BACKGROUNG OF THE ROHINGYA PROBLEM
BY:KYAW ZAN THA,M.A
EARLY MUSLIMS IN THE KNIGDOM OF RAKHINE (ARAKAN)
Dynasty in Rakhine (Arakanese) history, stretched from Chittagoung in the North to Thanlyin (Syriam) in the South until it lost the whole of Chittagoung down to the River Naaf (Nat River) to Mughal in 1666. Some chittagonian Muslims however remained settled in the Kingdom of Rakhine (Arakan). These were the earliest Muslim settlers in the Kingdom of Rakhine and known as the Kamans.
MUSLIM IMMIGRATION DURING COLONIAL PERIOD
During the colonial period Chittagonian Muslims or Bengalis came to the land of Rakhine freely to get employed in the developing cultivation there which was part of the then Brithish economics policy. In Sittwe (Akyab), for instance, from a few hundred inhabitants the population had steadily increased and even within the last decade of the 19th century the growth had been continuous as the census figures plainly show: (more…)