Posted on May 17th, 2019
Dr. Daya Hewapathirane
The Muslim community associated with Myanmar or former Burma, known as Rohingya Muslims are not indigenous to Myanmar. They are a relatively recent migrant community of Myanmar. Most of these Muslims are illicit immigrants who migrated from Muslim neighborhood regions of Bengal India during the British colonial period and later from East Pakistan or the present Bangladesh. The Myanmar government s of the past and present do not consider Rohingya Muslims as legitimate citizens of Myanmar. The people of Myanmar consider the Rohingya people as illegal immigrants. Myanmar’s Muslims account for an estimated 04% of the total Myanmar population of about 60 million. In 2012, there were about 800,000 Rohingya Muslims living in Rohang, the western state of Myanmar known officially as Rakhine or Arakan.