Land claim for Muslims in Rakhine State could be western group's request

CNI News

1 May 2025

The call by the powerful opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh for a separate and independent state for Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine State may be a Western request, Rakhine politicians and political analysts told CNI News.

Bangladesh-based media outlets reported that discussions were held on the issue during a meeting between Jamaat-e-Islami and a top delegation from the Communist Party of China, which was in Bangladesh on April 27. The meeting reportedly discussed the issue of Muslim refugees, including the establishment of a separate and independent state in Rakhine State for Muslim refugees.

The territorial claim is a political statement, but it is unacceptable because it goes beyond Myanmar's sovereignty, and Myanmar's borders must be determined in accordance with the constitution, U Thein Tun Oo, director of the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, told CNI News.

“Normally, this is a political statement. This is a political act on the part of Bangladesh, but in reality, this is an act that violates our country’s sovereignty. This is unacceptable. How the borders of Myanmar are determined must be in accordance with our Constitution. Especially when Yunus came to power and Bangladesh leaned too much towards the West, they only utter Western-style words, I think. The main thing is how the Chinese delegation that went to Bangladesh responded. How they will continue to work. This needs to be monitored. As Myanmar is a sovereign country, all territorial decisions and determinations of our country must be in accordance with the Constitution. This land claim is something that Myanmar cannot accept." said U Thein Tun Oo.

While seeing delegates of the Chinese Communist Party and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Party

Mohammad Taher, a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, said that China plays an important role in the Myanmar context.

He also said that Bangladesh has hosted over 1 million Muslim refugees, and that providing them with shelter and food alone will not solve the Muslim refugee problem, and that resettling them in Rakhine State as a separate territory is the right solution, Business Standard reported.

U Tun Aung Kyaw, a member of the policy steering committee of the Arakan National Party (ANP), told CNI News that the demand for a separate area for Muslim refugees in northern Rakhine is not new, but Muslims have been persistently trying to gain Maungdaw district since the British colonial period.

He said that such a demand would not be accepted by not only the Rakhine people but also the people of Myanmar as a whole.

"It was even worse in 1942. When the British fled to India, they gave the Bengalis in Buthidaung and Maungdaw districts the best weapons of the Second World War to resist the Arakan offensive. There, in Maungdaw district, more than 30,000 Rakhine ethnic people were killed and more than 300 villages were burned down. Since then, they have been trying to establish a separate Bengali territory. The name Rohingya that they are talking about in Myanmar never existed in Myanmar's history. This has been rejected by government officials, parliaments, and all ethnic groups at the same time. "That is why the issue of establishing a separate territory will not be accepted by the people of Myanmar in any way." said U Tun Aung Kyaw.

While seeing Bengali refugees

Even now, they are demanding that the Bengalis in Myanmar be given ethnic status, disregarding historical facts.

Last March, Bangladesh Prime Minister Mohammad Yunus pledged to return Muslim refugees who have fled to Bangladesh to their homeland of Rakhine State by 2026. 

He also said that there must be a safe zone in Rakhine State for the Muslim refugees to return and settle with dignity.

During the SAC chairman and officials' visit to the BIMSTEC meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, the Myanmar Foreign Ministry and Bangladesh's Special Representative, discussed the repatriation of Muslim refugees. In those discussions, Myanmar has said that it will initially accept only 180,000 Muslims whose identities have been verified. 

Currently, fierce battles are taking place between the Myanmar Tatmadaw and the AA in Rakhine State and the AA has controlled the Muslim-majority townships of Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and Rathedaung.