Abstract

This paper primarily deals with Myanmar’s policies against the Rohingyas since its inception. Rohingya people, an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, originally residing in the Rakhine state of Myanmar with an estimated population of 1 million comprising of majority Muslims and minority Hindus before 2016-17 crisis. Rohingya Muslims are facing one of the biggest humanitarian crisis in the present scenario. Myanmar has neither granted them citizenship nor considered them as an ethnic minority under its 1982 Citizenship Law. This paper vividly describes the role of various organs of government in the “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya community. The Rohingya Muslims have faced many military crackdowns in 1978, 1991–1992,2012, 2015, 2016–2017 and particularly in 2017-2018. On the contrary part, the Burmese government argues this major humanitarian crisis as killings of Rohingya “militants” who pose threat to the peace and internal security of the nation. As a result of which, the Rohingyas have fled Rakhine state of Myanmar to its neighboring countries for the need of necessary humanitarian conditions. In the present day, Myanmar’s neighboring countries like India and Bangladesh have seen major influx of Rohingya population in their countries taking the status of refugees. Up till now, about 671,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from their homes taking refuge in adjacent nations in order to escape various atrocities committed by Myanmar’s police and army force. Since there is a continuous influx of Rohingyas in order to cater the humanitarian needs, UN has recently launched a Joint Response Plan for more funds. This paper encompasses the whole of Rohingya refugee crisis and explores its past, present and its foreseeable future.

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