Arakan was never a part of Myanmar
I strongly reject the Burmese general’s claim that Arakan is part of Myanmar and that the Rohingya people have no root to live in that region. In fact, Arakan was an independent and sovereign State for centuries. In 1784, Burmese King Bodhapoya occupied Arakan to make it part of his kingdom, but his successor conceded the region to the British government after an war with them in 1826.
Surprisingly, when Burma attained independence in 1948, the British government handed Arakan to Rangoon instead of giving region’s independence to the region’s people. Thus the misfortunes of the Rohingya people began. What a sad matter it was that the Pakistan government neither understood the London diplomacy nor protested.
India got back Assam and Monipur, but Arakan people did not get back their independence.
The good news is that the Bangladesh government has opened the doors to the Arakan people that about a million people persecuted by the Myanmar government for years can take shelter. To give shelter to the strangers/guests is one of the five basic principles of Islam-[Ref: Hadith-e-Qudsi in Bengali compiled by Allama Madani, Hadith No. 246]. Thus the Bangladesh government has done a great job and now it is our duty to cooperate to make the rehabilitation process easy and faultless.
Abdullah Chowdhury,
Dhanmondi,
Dhaka
