The 1978 Rohingya exodus By Aman Ullah
In 1962, General Ne Win led a coup d'état and established a nominally socialist military government that sought to follow the "Burmese Way to Socialism." The Ne Win government nationalized the economy and pursued a policy of autarky, which isolated Burma from the rest of the world. The black market and rampant smuggling supplied the needs of the people, while the central government went down slowly into bankruptcy. Furthermore, political oppression caused many educated Burmese to leave the country.
There were sporadic protests against military rule during the Ne Win years and these were almost always violently suppressed. In 1974, the military violently suppressed anti-government protests at the funeral of U Thant. Student protests in 1975, 1976 and 1977 were quickly suppressed by overwhelming force.
Following the riots at Rangoon University on 7 July 1962, troops were sent to restore order. They fired on protesters and destroyed the student union building. Shortly afterward, Ne Win addressed the nation in a five-minute radio speech which concluded with the statement: "if these disturbances were made to challenge us, I have to declare that we will fight sword with sword and spear with spear" The Burmese phrase is "dah go dah gyin, hlan go hlan gyin". Like the Code of Hammurabi, the sixth King of Babylon dating back to about 1772 BC, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"
In July 1976 opposition appeared within the ranks of the military itself as a number of younger army officers plotted a coup d’état and the assassination of U Ne Win, U San Yu, and Colonel Tin Oo, director general of the powerful National Intelligence Board. Members of the coup group were apparently disgruntled over the resignation of another popular military officer, Defense Minister Brigadier General Tin U, in March and were committed to reforming the socialist economic system, which they saw as condemning the country to ever-deepening poverty. They were put on trial in September along with Tin U, who apparently knew of the plot but did not inform the government. The coup leader was condemned to death, and the others were given prison terms.
Insurgency continued, and activities by more than a dozen major groups were recorded in 1977. These occurred in the north and northeastern border regions, where the BCP continued to pose the greatest threat when allied with smaller groups and posed a lesser threat in Rakhine and Mon states. The gradual withdrawal of Chinese support from the BCP Northeastern Command led it to engage more actively in the lucrative opium trade.
At the Third Congress of the BSPP in February 1977 there was a purge of the Central Committee, and the socialist economist U Ba Nyein and 40 others were obliged to resign. This 'schism' in the BSPP was seen as a power-struggle or in-fighting between the military faction and the 'ex-Communist' faction in the BSPP. Many commented that the power struggle was between pro-Ne Win group and pro-San Yu group and San Yu group get upper hand. Among the thousands that were purged from the party were 'leftists' or 'communist’. The congress concluded that the faulty implementation of policy, rather than the "Burmese Way to Socialism," was responsible for the bad state of the economy. BSPP Secretary General U San Yu called for changes in the management of state and cooperative enterprises and better incentives for private producers.
Arakan which already is one of the poorest provinces of the country became bad to worse after the military coup. The economic life of the people is intolerable and a large number of Arakanese peoples, Buddhists and Muslim a like, migrated into Burma Proper such as Rangoon and parts of Lower Burma. When Ne Win Saw a large number of Muslims of Arakan scattered bout in Rangoon and Delta area, he imposed a law in 1964, which restricted the movement of Muslims of Arakan especially prohibiting the movement out of Akyab District towards east. Thus, the Muslims of Arakan were put into a sort of imprisonment since 1964.
The authorities, however, could not stop all migration effectively as all routes could not be closed. The late 60s saw a sharp decline in economy; bring about large-scale smuggling across the Burma-Thai border. As Arakan became the poorest province in the country, the Arakanese were forced to leave for the new green pastures which were rising in eastern Burma such as the Shan and Karen States and Moulmein area.
In 1973 census the authorities again found that Arakanese Muslims had spread up to these eastern borders and other commercially mobile areas such as Mandalay, Pegu, Prome, Maolmein, Bassein, etc. Ne Win did not want that. The Muslims should be in Arakan only so that the Arakanese Buddhists and Arakanese Muslims could use against each other. This was the best way to keep the national liberation movement of the Arakanese checked.
But the scenario was not like that, since 1967 rice crisis where Muslims and Buddhist jointly participated in the anti-junta protest march and lost both of their people’s lives, the Arakanese came to realize that they need to forge unity between Buddhists and Muslims to oppose the military regime together. With this vision many Muslims joined the Arakan National Organization led by Bo Gri Kra Hla Aung during 1967. Similarly, the Rohingyas liberations groups also made alliance with the Arakan National Liberation Party led by U Maung Sein Nyunt.
Such an alliance alarmed the Rangoon regime. Meanwhile the emergence of the Arakan Independence Organization/Army and Arakan Liberation Party under the collaboration with KIO and KNU receptively added much worry to the junta. In 1977 the Ne Win forces wiped out the main army of AIO and ALP, killing their leaders San Kyaw Tun and Khaing Moe Ling respectively along with about 300 men including Muslims.
This event spread a cloud of misery over the Arakanese population. At the same time, a coup attempt by the Arakanese was foiled. This coup had been planned by Aung Sein Tha, Htin Lin and Kyaw Hla (a) Mustafa Kamal. The Burmese Intelligence openly implicated the Military Attaché in the Bangladesh Embassy in Rangoon in the plot that was expelled and declared persona non grata.
General Ne win get a chance for his challenge of ‘sword with sword’ to teach a lesson not only to the Rohingya but also Bangladesh Government. He launched an anti-Rohingya military operation in the Code name of King Dragon in the guise of checking illegal immigrant in 1978.
In February 1978, the Myanmar government initiated a program entitled "Operation Dragon" designed to check on registration cards possessed by the Muslims in Rakhine State. On 11 February the Burmese government sent about 200 Immigration Department personals from Rangoon to Akyab. They sealed off the Muslim quarters of the city and arrested about1,734 people in one night. It was estimated that at least 6, 000 persons were arrested due to lack of identity cards. The Muslims saw this an attempt to oust them from Arakan and held a demonstration in the city on 17 February. The demonstration was put down by force, causing extreme panic. The Muslim population fled further north as the campaign pushed forward.
By mid-June, the number of refugees reported to have crossed to Naaf River had reach 200,000, and an additional 3,000 a day ere leaving Burma. Between March and August1978, more than a quarter million Muslims crossed the Naaf River. Again, and again refugees told horror stories about the Burmese army and local Arakan Buddhists – arbitrary arrest, rape, desecration and destruction of villages. Various indicated that if the army itself had not committed these acts, neither had they made any effort to prevent Buddhist Arakanese from spreading terror or destroying Muslim villages.
In early April, when President Zia’s advisor Kazi Anwarul Haque visited Yangon, he had been categorically assured that the Myanmar government would inquire into the causes of the population movement and take steps to prevent persecution of the Muslims. On April 13, then the foreign minister of Myanmar Brigadier General Myint Maung visited Dhaka and had detailed discussions of the issue, although the refugee flow at that time had not been so large as to cause alarm.
At the end of April 1978, The Bangladesh government registered a sharp protest with Burmese government concerning the expulsion by force of “thousands of Burmese Muslim citizens” to Bangladesh. The President, Ziaur Rahman, spoke about the inhuman removal of Burmese Muslims from their country, demanded that they be allowed to return. The Burmese government continued to insist that those who were expelled were Bangladeshi citizens who had resided illegally in Burma.
Tension along the Burma-Bangladesh border intensified. Naval units of both sides patrolled the Naaf River, and army reinforcements were sent to the region. Each side accused the other of sniping and opening fire. Apparently, the negative world-wide publicity Burmese received after Bangladesh called for international aid changed the Burmese position regarding repatriation.
On April 23, the Myanmar Army opened fire at the refugees, wounding a number of them and causing panic, during which many of them broke through the border. The BDR personnel sought to push back able-bodied men but admitted women and children. In late April, there had been three instances of exchanges of fire between the Myanmar Army and the BDR.
In a press conference on May 6, then foreign secretary Tabarak Husain said that the issue had caused "a situation of great strain" between Bangladesh and Myanmar, and that the two countries had been fully informed of the situation. He added that negotiations were continuing but that no progress had been made. He also noted that Bangladesh had asked for international assistance. On 6 June, Tabarak Hussain went to Rangoon to discuss the refugee issue with the Burmese government.
Despite some monetary support from the United Nations, maintaining the refugees was difficult proposition for poverty-stricken Bangladesh where the standard of living was extremely low. The UN assistance enabled Bangladesh to maintain ten or eleven temporary camps of bamboo huts and straw and to provide food for approximately 140, 000 refugees. During the first three months there were cases of cholera and some 850 people, mostly woman and children, died of malnutrition, dysentery, pneumonia and malaria. It was clear that conditions would worsen with the beginning of monsoon season. And indeed, by the beginning of March 1979, 1,583 deaths were recorded, most of them are children. Much higher estimates have been suggested as well.
Aid sent by a number of Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia, and by the international bodies.
On 30 May UNHCR requested a budget of US$15.5 million which would cover an eight-month period of support for the refugees. The World Muslim League, head quarter in Macca, issued a press release on 14 Aril 1978 regarding the distress of Arakan Muslims.
The Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh participated in the negotiations. For this time the Burmese government continued to publish denials in press about government repression of Muslims of Arakan, and to press the point took 28 journalists to border area to show them villages which, they said, were actually burned down by illegal immigrants who came from the city of Chittagong in Bangladesh.
The two governments finally reached a consensus and signed an agreement on July 9, 1978, for the repatriation of 200,00 Rohingya refugees to Arakan after bilateral negotiations conducted in Dhaka.
The Burmese agreed that anyone in possession of a National Registration Certificate could return but conceded that not all the refugees had such a document. Repatriation was scheduled to begin at end of August, the first stage intended for those who held National Registration Certificates. The two parties also agreed on measures to prevent illegal entry into either country and the demarcation of the border.
The agreement describes how the two countries will repatriate each other's residents, including legal and illegal immigrants crossing the border. It also deals with agreed methods for resolving other border issues between the two countries, such as setting markers and redrawing official border maps, border ground rules, land and maritime borders, etc.
By the end of November 1978, Rohingya refugees continued to return to Myanmar at a rate of 2,000 every three days, and the total number of returnees -- having national registration cards -- stood at 12,644 as of November 26. At that time, the UNHCR projected that the number of refugees in Bangladesh would be reduced to 160,000 by the end of 1978 and to about 60,000 by June 1979.
The Myanmar government had cleared an entire list of 105,025 persons transmitted to Yangon on October 19, but not formally agreed to the clearance of the remaining 28,775 Rohingya, who had no identity cards or other documentary evidence, and those who present oral evidence of residence in Rakhine State.
Under international pressure, Burma agreed to "take back" the Rohingyas in the repatriation agreement with Bangladesh. It was not the end of the exodus.
However, as the Plan-A of Ne Win was not success then he started with his Plan-B that is a legal instrument which may made all the Rohingya illegal status. Then he tried to draw a citizenship law which later known as the citizenship law 1982.