Rohingyas, Myanmar and Pakistan

Before the arrival of Islam in the Indian sub-continent, the main religions in the region were Hinduism and Buddhism. In those times, Buddhism was burgeoning and gathering mass acceptance as shown by the rampant statues and monasteries in Bamian (Afghanistan), Swat and Taxila (Pakistan). Hindu leaders must have been seriously concerned about the rise of Buddhism. The first major clean-up operation against Buddhism in the India in recorded history is the attack by the Hun barbarians. They damaged and destroyed Buddhist monasteries but damage to the Hindu temples is not mentioned to be excessive which alludes to the possibility of Huns acting as mercenaries. The very fact that Buddhists had taken refuge in far away and hardly-accessible valleys like Bamian and Swat shows that they were facing a threat of survival.

After the arrival of Islam in the Indian sub-continent, no major confrontation occured between Muslims and Buddhists. They could have been potential allies too. The Buddhists remained safe in their far-flung sanctuaries of Tibet, Sikkim, Myanmar, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Things started to change during the British East India Company's colonization of India. Myanmar, Tibet and Sikkim were all invaded. In 1772, Bhutanese and British troops clashed in Bengal with a treaty signed in 1774. Sikkim was perhaps the only Indian state with Buddhism as state religion. In the Sikkim expedition of 1888, Tibet lost its suzerainty over Sikkim. Later on Sikkim was annexed into India. Myanmar's Buddhist kings had many border issues with British India and in a series of wars starting in 1824, they lost almost all of their country to the British East India Company. Buddhist kingdoms were faced with a survival threat.

Tibet was the last stronghold of Buddhism in the region and closed to the outer world. It did not remain safe for long, however. In 1903, an expedition of the British Indian Army was sent to Tibet, at the end of which Tibet was forced to yield certain concessions. The ultimate blow to Tibet, however, came in 1959 when Tibet was annexed by China. China accused India of supplying foreign weapons to the Tibetan guerrillas from bases in the Northern India [1]. The supply of light weapons encouraged Tibetan authorities to confront Chinese forces and this sealed their fate. Dalai Lama and his government in exile took refuge in India. From a pure military standpoint, even a semi-independent Tibet was desirable as a buffer state between India and China. But the age-old rivalry between the religions prevailed over the modern military considerations. Analysts in the court of Lhasa (Tibet's capital) should have foreseen the consequences of the Indian assistance, which resulted in depriving Buddhism of its central seat of government. But that is history. Currently, through Dalai Lama and his government in exile, India has means of influence and manipulation in the Buddhist countries like Myanmar.

The government of Myanmar has good relations with China and Pakistan. The Buddhist monks of Myanmar are, on the other hand, susceptible to the influence of Dalai Lama and thus to that of the India. All the major regional players have their respective levers of influence. Therefore, both the Myanmar's military and the Buddhist clergy may not have converging views on the Rohingya issue. The military will fight the armed insurgents of the Rohingyas just like any other insurgency e.g., Shan separatists etc.

The emmigration of Rohingyas to Bangladesh is not the first occurence of mass movement from Burma. Towards 1785, the state of Arakan (or Rakhine) current Southern-Western Myanmar) was conquered by the Burmese king. The conqueror started to treat the conquered as slaves. Hordes of Arakanese started to emigrate to Bengal in the territory of British East India Company. These people were sometimes referred to as "Mugs". The court of Burma demanded several times that their slaves be returned to them but the British authorities of India refused to oblige. The Arakanese lived in the British protection for more than thirty years when in 1824 the first Anglo-Burmese war started [2]. Huge tracts of Burma were annexed into India. Under the British occupation of Burma, these Arakanese returned to their homeland. Then in 1948, British granted independence to Burma. In the independent Burma, the old animosity towards the Arakanese resurfaced and these people were refused the Burmese nationality.

Pakistan, therefore, need to tread carefully on the Rohingya issue. All the possible humanitarian aid should be given to the refugees but at the same time avoiding confrontation with the Myanmar authorities. Efforts should be made to settle the Rohingya issue peacefully.

[1] India and China: The Battle between Soft and Hard Power by Dr S K Shah, 2015, Alpha Editions.

[2] Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards Towards Burma by Anne Thackeray Ritchie and Richardson Evans, MCMIX, Oxford.