The Mujahid Movements and the Origin of the “Rohingya” Name during the Post-Independence Period

 

When examining the situation of Arakan (Rakhine) after Myanmar regained independence, it is evident that the region remained quite unstable. Not long after Burma gained independence on 4 January 1948, violent uprisings emerged near the Mayu Frontier area under the guise of a Muslim religious war in the name of Jihad. Most. Most of these uprisings were led by Muslim religious leaders, resulting in attacks, arson, and atrocities across both towns and remote villages.

According to Moshe Yegar, author of Muslims in Burma, the Mujahid rebellion began when Muslims who had fled during the Japanese invasion were later denied the right to resettle in their former villages. Historically, before World War II, there had been about 200 Rakhine villages in the Buthidaung and Maungdaw regions. After the war, only about 60 remained, and 44 of those villages were destroyed or seized by Mujahid forces within just two years of independence. Thousands of Rakhine villagers fled their homes which are attacked by Bengalis, taking refuge in nearby towns and safer areas.

The Mujahid movement had actually begun two years before independence. In March 1946, a Muslim Chittagonian named Zafar Kawad founded the Muslim Liberation Organization (MLO). At a congress held in May 1948 at Karabbin village north of Maungdaw, the MLO was renamed the Mujahid Party. The term Mujahid means “one who establishes and defends Islamic laws.”

Records show that Bengali Muslims had stockpiled weapons, which were later transferred to mosques in Farkibazar and Shabibazar villages during World War II. Zafar Kawad became the Mujahid commander, and his deputy was Abdul Hussain, a former corporal in the Akyab District police force. On June 9, 1948, a letter written in the Urdu language from the Mujahid Party was sent to the Union Government of Burma via the Assistant Administrative Officer of Maungdaw Township, containing several demands:

1. To recognize the area north of the Kaladan River and east of the Naf River as the homeland of Muslims
2. To grant Burmese citizenship to all Arakan Muslims.
3. To recognize the Mujahid Party as a legal political party.
4. To recognize Urdu as an official language for Arakan Muslims and allow it to be taught in their schools.
5. To repatriate Muslim refugees from Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U to their original villages at government expense.
6. To release all Muslims detained under the Emergency Security Act.
7. To grant full general amnesty to all Mujahid Party members.

Their self-identification as "Arakanese Muslims" and their demand for Urdu to be recognized as their national language can be interpreted as a demand for recognition as people who have traditionally lived in this region. When their demands were ignored, the Mujahids began attacking Rakhine villages in northern Maungdaw. On 19 July 1948, the first Martyrs’ Day after independence, Mujahid forces raided and burned villages near Ngapyuchaung and Maungdaw, abducting some villagers and Buddhist monks.

According to 1949 reports from the British Embassy in Rangoon, it was difficult to determine the exact goal of the Muslim insurgency — whether they sought an autonomous region within Burma or a union with Pakistan. The Mujahids began their armed movement last October. It cannot be concluded that all activists have retreated to the jungle. Those who remain active within society will persist in their agitation, acts of sabotage, and endeavors to realize their objectives.The report estimated that the Mujahid fighters numbered around 500, with far more sympathizers supporting them through sabotage and supply networks.

The Hindustan Times (New Delhi), dated 18 May 1949, also reported:

“The dangerous possibility of this Muslim insurgency is that it could escalate into an international issue. The rebels have raised the Pakistani flag, calling for the annexation of northern Arakan to Pakistan. Arms and ammunition are being smuggled across the border — much of it leftover from the Japanese and British forces of World War II. Though many Muslims have lived in Arakan for generations, a large number are actually recent illegal migrants from East Pakistan. Of the estimated 130,000 people in the area, over 80,000 are Pakistani nationals.”

Burma’s Military records of the period confirm that East Pakistani officials provided arms to the Mujahids. The Assistant Local Administration Officer and Township Officer of Cox's Bazar supplied weapons and ammunition to Muslim insurgents. Wounded Muslim rebels were allowed treatment at Cox's Bazar hospital. Mujahid leaders took refuge in Balukhali village inside East Pakistan near the Burmese border.

The Mujahids’ main source of income was rice smuggling from Arakan into East Pakistan, which was facing a food shortage. The trade was mutually beneficial for East Pakistan officials and the Mujahid commanders, who gained funds to sustain their movement.

In June 1951, a conference of Arakan Muslims held at Ale Than Kyaw village issued a declaration titled “The Constitutional Demands of the Arakan Muslims,” calling for equal political power-sharing between Muslims and Rakhines. The central demand was that northern Arakan be immediately declared a “Muslim State” with autonomous control similar to Shan, Chin, Kachin, and Karenni States — complete with its own armed forces, police, and border guards.

An illustration published in the 1953 “Rakhine Tansaung” magazine depicted the Mujahids’ brutality: a Mujahid rebel standing with one foot each on the devastated towns of Buthidaung and Maungdaw, holding a rifle in one hand while assaulting a Rakhine woman, and Prime Minister U Nu shown wearing a rosary — symbolizing his helplessness.

Under democratic rule, Muslims in northern Arakan began participating in elections; four Muslim MPs were elected from Buthidaung and Maungdaw. Yet, Mujahid violence continued for nearly a decade. Though the movement disintegrated in 1954, full surrender did not occur until 4 July 1961, when Deputy Defense Chief Brigadier General Aung Gyi oversaw the official surrender ceremony in Maungdaw.

The term "Rohingya" is not found in any historical records of Arakan, Burmese history, or British-era documents until before the 1950s.

The person who first attempted to create the non-existent "Rohingya" ethnicity as an indigenous ethnic group of Burma after independence was Abdul Ghaffar, a Member of Parliament from the Buthidaung constituency. Abdul Ghaffar was an outstanding and politically successful figure among the Bengali community. He served as the Township Officer of Buthidaung from 1944 to 1945, as a Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL) Parliament representative for the Northern Sittwe District constituency (Buthidaung, Maungdaw) in 1952 and 1956, and also as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Health in Prime Minister U Nu's government. He was an active advocate on behalf of Bengali Muslims in Burma.

On 20 November 1948, Abdul Ghaffar submitted a petition in English to the Burmese government containing the statement:“We, the Rohingyas of Arakan, are a nation.”Three years later, on 20 August 1951, the term appeared publicly for the first time in The Guardian Daily under the headline “The Sudeten Muslims.” However, at that time the label “Rohingya” was rarely used — most Muslim insurgents and their supporters still referred to themselves as “Arakan Muslims.”

During the 1953 population census in Sittwe District, census officer U Shwe Zan recorded that many Muslims insisted on being listed as “Arakan Muslims” under the ethnicity category. In the years following independence — particularly after the AFPFL political split — the term “Rohingya” began spreading more widely in northern Arakan and the Mayu frontier area, largely as a political identity tool.

At that time, the "Clean AFPFL" and "Stable AFPFL," whose primary goal was to win elections, campaigned across Burma using all possible means. They readily promised to accommodate the demands for rights by the Muslims if they won. The Bengali Muslims pushed for the adoption of the terminology that they were "Rohingyas," to the extent that Burmese political leaders accepted it. U Shwe Zan and Dr. Aye Chan wrote in their book that they remembered even during the Pyidaungsu (Union) government after 1960, there was a "Rohingya language" broadcast in the national races language program.

The term "Rohingya" began to be seen in political movements only around 1971. After General Ne Win seized power in 1962 under the name of Revolutionary Council, Muslim political movements went underground. In 1964, some groups resumed efforts to establish a separate Muslim territory in northern Arakan. In 1971, activities began under the name “Rohingya Patriotic Front (RPF)”, led by Jafar Habib, a self-proclaimed former leader of the Rohingya Students’ Union at Rangoon University, alongside Dr. Tin Maung, Mohammed Ali (a.k.a. Maung Thein Aung), and Nur Islam.

After Bangladesh gained independence, the new Dhaka government, wishing to maintain good relations with Burma and avoid internal instability, compelled the RPF to surrender arms.

When the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) government drafted a new 1974 Constitution, Muslim representatives from the Mayu frontier region petitioned for a separate administrative zone but were rejected. The right to Bengali Muslims representation in the BSPP People’s Assembly was also denied.

Before the 1988 democratic uprising, the use of the term "Rohingya" in international newspapers was extremely rare.

In an article published in the February 1979 issue of the Asian Survey journal by the University of California Press, which covered the Naga Min (Dragon King) operation over two pages, the term "Rohingya" was not found, except for the name of the organization "Rohingya Patriotic Front." ." Only terms like "Bengali Muslim," "Muslim populace," and "Muslim population" were repeatedly encountered. Foreign scholars and news agencies of the time referred instead to “Bengali Muslims” or “Muslim populace of the region.”

By July-August 1986 article, researcher Martin Smith used the term “Rohingya Muslim Community” in his article, though without defining its precise meaning.

After the 1988 pro-democracy revolution was brutally suppressed by the military within the country, anti-government movements expanded, based in various border areas of Burma and internationally. Taking advantage of this situation, the political movements of the Chittagonian Bengalis under the name "Rohingya" were revived once again.