The Rohingya community of Arakan , Burma (Myanmar) is one of the most down-trodden ethnic minorities of the world. They are victim of political oppression, economic exploitation, cultural slavery and communal violence in their ancestral land Arakan where they have been living centuries after centuries.
Arakan, a land of one of the most fertile regions in Asia with great variety of unexplored resources, has turned into a land of bloods and tears since the beginning of the 20th century whose people have been groaning under the crushing wheels of either state sponsored terrorists or the religious fanatics, decades after decades.
The people of this region, whose products serve as the major portion of the total capital investment for the economic growth and national prosperity of Burma, pass their life in sub-human condition with half naked body full of hunger and grief. They have been economically crippled, socially degraded, politically subjugated and culturally enslaved.
Particularly since the military rulers took over the power in 1962, they have divided the people of Arakan into many hostile groups who many often point their guns against their neighbors. Through different tactics and strategies, they have successfully sown the seeds of communal animosity and hatred among the people of Arakan — particularly the two major communities, Rakhines and Rohingyas, as a part of their "Divide & Rule" policy with a view to permanently trample Arakan with a notion –"Kill an Arakanese first if a cobra and an Arakanese are found together".
Under these circumstances, an invulnerable unity of all the people of Arakan, irrespective of caste, creed or culture, is essential for their own interest of peace and prosperity. Arakan is our motherland — the earth and the fullness of it are ours. All the communities living there are bound with the love and affection of one mother. So, why should we be divided at the instruction and instigation of those military rulers who have never been our friends as well as the friends of Burma? They have crushed our ribs from all aspects of our life and turned the whole Burma into a secret state of terror where human rights are constantly violated.
Finally, I hope that this humble effort of mine towards the analysis in brief of the plight of Rohingyas will bring about an effective impact towards the solution of the century-old Rohingya problem as well as the restoration of democracy and human rights in Burma.
I also hope that this write-up will provide a concrete background for laying the foundation of communal harmony and fraternity urging all the people of Arakan to march onward shoulder to shoulder to wrest the golden sun of emancipation with the creation of a society which would be free from political oppression, economic exploitation, social anarchy and cultural slavery and at the same time, it will draw the kind attention of international community to play an effective role to put an end to the century old sanguinary history of Arakan and to help the Arakanese people to let peace, prosperity and communal harmony prevail in Arakan.
By Ahmedur Rahman Farooq
Chairman, The Council for Restoration of Democracy in Burma (CRDB)
Email: arahman678@yahoo.com