These are slides of article entitled "Genocide against Rohingya Muslims: A Classical Model of Ethnic Cleansing", which were presented in "International Conference on Forced Migration", held between 5th-7th December 2017 at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).

1. Genocide Against Rohingya Muslims: A
Classical Model of Ethnic Cleansing
Belayet Hossen
Department of Quran and
Sunnah Studies
International Islamic
University Malaysia

2. Historical Background of Rohingya Muslims
• Origin of Rohingya word
• Islam came to the Rakhine State between 8th and 9th century.
• The percentage of Muslims in Rakhine State is 30 based on the
statistics of 1941. But in Mongdo and Bothing, Muslims’
percentage is 80.
• In Myanmar, there are 232 tribes are living and among them 130
tribes are recognized by the government. But unfortunately,
Rohingya Muslims are not among them. They are called “Bengali.
• In 1433, Arakan was annexed by Bangla Sultanate.

3. Historical Background ……
• The kings ok Arakan had lost authority over Arakan several
times and took shelter under the court of Muslim Sultan of
Gour or Muggle, and later on, they got back its kingdom in
cooperation of Muslim Sultan.
• Prominent poet Alaoul, Sayed Ashraf and others were the
ministers of Roshang Royal Court of Arakan.
• The historians of 14th century like Rashiduddin, Turkish sailor
Sidi Ali, Ain-e Akbari, Bahristan Ghayebi and Syarul
Mutakharin also proved it.

4. Historical Background ……
• Dr. Mahfuzur Rahman Akand says:
Once upon a time, the Arakan province was an
independent state but now it is one of the provinces of
Myanmar. At that time, in every significant sector the Rohingya
Muslims played very vital role, where their influence was
prevailed over that state but now they have been merged into the
most persecuted tribe of Arakan.
• The distressful life of Rohingya Muslims began when
Burmese King Bodhopaya occupied Arakan in 1784.

5. Historical Background ……
• In 1962 Ne Win took over
Arakan from British and
since then the Rohingya
Muslims started to lose
their citizenship.
• In 1982, finally, in the
name of citizenship law,
Rohingya Muslims were
given level of “Foreign”
and forcefully driven them
out .
Ne Win was a Burmese politician and
military commander. He was Prime
Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960
and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state
from 1962 to 1981.

6. Historical Background ……
• The causes behind the failure of Rohingya Muslims in
Arakan:
1. They could not produce any outstanding leadership.
2. In 1780, King Bodhapaya and his regime deliberately killed the top
leaders of Rohingya Muslims.
3. The leaders who fled to Bangladesh and other countries of the world, they
did not go back.
4. The educated class of Rohingya people who came abroad, they did not pay
proper efforts to develop Rohingya Muslims.
5. Lack of proper education.
6. Lack of unity among Rohingya Muslims.
7. Lack of Political party and united movements.
8. Lack of far sighted vision and mission.
9. Heedless position of Bangladesh authority.
10. British Betrayal Policy against Muslims

7. Definition and area of Ethnic cleansing
• “GENOCIDE Any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious
group, as such:
 (a) Killing members of the group.
 (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.
 (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
 (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
 (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

8. Arakan is A Classical Model of Ethnic Cleansing
Denial of Citizenship:
Based on the controversial citizen law of Myanmar there are three
categories of citizens. These are:
a. Citizen,
b. Associate citizen and
c. Naturalized citizen.
Muslims have often been placed in the “associate citizen” category or been
required to apply for verification of their citizenship. These three categories
of citizens have been explained slightly,
(a) "Citizen" means a Burma citizen;
(b) "Associate Citizen" means an associate citizen prescribed by this Law;
(c) "Naturalized Citizen" means a prescribed by this Law.

9. Denial of Citizenship…
• Citizens are persons who belong to one of the national races
(Kachin, Kayah (Karenni), Karen, Chin, Burman, Mon,
Rakhine, Shan, Kaman, or Zerbadee) or whose ancestors
settled in the country before 1823, the beginning of British
occupation of Arakan State. If a person cannot provide
evidence that his ancestors settled in Burma before 1823, he or
she can be classified as an associate citizen if one grandparent,
or pre-1823 ancestor, was a citizen of another country.
• Human Rights Watch has repeatedly urged the Burmese
government to repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law or else amend
it in accordance with the recommendations of the U.N. Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human.

10. Burning Houses into Ashes
According to the HuffPost
report, (September 2,
2017), more than 2,600 houses
have been burned down in
Rohingya-majority areas of
Myanmar's northwest in the
last week, the government said
on Saturday, in one of the
deadliest bouts of violence
involving the Muslim minority
in decades

11. Raping and Sexual Harassment
According to the UN report, dozens of Rohingya women have
reportedly been aggressively raped and sexually assaulted by the
Burmese security officers.
It further describes that a
total of eight medical
professionals working in
Bangladesh reported to have
treated 25 women since late
August who had physical
injuries that were consistent
with sexually violent
attacks. UN doctors also
treated hundreds of women
with these injuries last
October and November.

12. Mass Killing
• The categories of killing are: killing young
women after raping, by burning the whole
family along with house, drowning into sea,
and physically torture by detaining in the
cell, directly shooting by gun and other many
more ways they adopted to kill.
1. Lots of Ulama have been killed such as
principal of Madrasah, Khatib and Muazzin
of Masjid.
2. 10 people of Tablig Jamat have been killed.
3. Newsday says to the BBC World Service:
A minimum of 130 people have been killed.
4. Independent says: 400 Rohingya have been
killed in a clash .

13. Looting Wealth and Property Destruction
• We cannot go back. Everything is
destroyed. We lost everything. We
lost all our property, even our
clothes. We don’t know what will
happen. We are very poor. (A
Rohingya Muslim, 56).
• “I lost my house and all belongings.
If I had stayed in my house, I would
have been brutally killed. They had
sticks and other lethal weapons…I
lost my home and I cannot rebuild it
myself. My all means, and abilities
have been destroyed and damaged.
(A Rohingya woman, 49).

14. Barring Humanitarian Aids
• The Guardian detailed that Myanmar has
blocked all United Nations aid agencies
from delivering vital supplies of food,
water and medicine to thousands of
desperate civilians at the center of a
bloody military campaign against the
country’s Muslim Rohingya minority.
• HRW said: “The Burmese government
and army should urgently ensure
humanitarian aid can reach ethnic
Rohingya and other vulnerable
populations in northern Rakhine State.
Government security operations have cut
off assistance to tens of thousands of
people and forced many to flee their
homes.”.

15. Barring Journalists from Collecting News
Al Jazeera reports: Min, the editor of the Rakhine Investigative
Agency, said:
Sitting in a Yangon cafe, Min Min scrolls through old photos of a
bombing attack on his house in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state.
The 28-year-old journalist Min, he was targeted last year due to his
reporting of the Rohingya crisis. It is a risky business, he said. "If I
keep trying to investigate the truth about issues in Rakhine state, my
life could be in danger. The young journalist revealed that his monthly
political magazine had to reduce its coverage of the mainly-Muslim
minority group during the recent incidents in the western town of
Maungdaw. "We had to be silent, we almost don't cover it because we
have to be very careful," Min said.
Still now, numerous journalists are imprisoned in Myanmar.

16. Restrictions on Getting Married and Giving
Birth to Children
 The DAWN NEWS says:
 “In Myanmar’s remote west, young men and women are subject to a
form of discrimination, considered harsh, even for the military regime
in this country. They are banned from getting married. The victims are
young adults from the ethnic Muslim-Rohingya community.
 Chris Lewa, lead researcher in ‘The Arakan Project, he said:
 “We know of at least five couples who were arrested and jailed this
year for getting married without permission from the local
authorities”.
 10 years punishment if anybody gets married with permission from
Nasaka army.
 Since 2004, there are at least 10,000 marriage applications pending
with authorities, 2008’s report says it

17. Suggestions to Solve the Rising Problems in
Rakhine State
• The report of Kofi Atta Anaan should be implemented as soon as
possible.
• The Muslim countries of OIC should impose collective pressure upon
the Myanmar authority to take back all displaced Rohingya.
• If Myanmar authority does not allow Rohingya Muslims in
resettlement, all Muslim countries should cut off all kinds of
relationships with Myanmar until it solves the problem.
• If the Myanmar government takes them back, all kinds of citizen
rights should be restored for them.
• All Muslim countries should extend the hands of assistance towards
the sustainable development of Rakhine State, which can be in terms
of education, infrastructure development, agriculture, electricity,
technology and other cooperation for the development of human
resource.

18. The End
Thanks all for your kind cooperation
!
Massalam