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Burma's Western Border as Reported by the Diplomatic Correspondence (1947-1975)
- May 1
- 2 min read
By Dr. Aye Chan
Published in 2012
This scholarly article utilizes declassified British diplomatic records from the National Archives in London to reconstruct the history of the Mujahid rebellion and communal tensions in northern Rakhine State. The correspondence between the British Embassy in Rangoon and offices in London, Karachi, and Dhaka provides a unique external perspective on the first three decades of independent Burma’s western frontier.
Key findings from the diplomatic records include:
The Mujahid Rebellion: The paper details the emergence of a "Jihadist" movement among Chittagonian residents in northern Rakhine shortly before and after Burma's independence in 1948. The movement sought to annex Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships to East Pakistan to create an Islamic state.
External Involvement: Declassified letters reveal that local Pakistani officials in border towns like Cox's Bazaar reportedly provided arms, ammunition, and medical treatment to the Mujahid guerrillas, often acting independently of their central government.
Demographic Data: British records from 1949 suggest that a vast majority of the Muslim population in the region were considered Pakistani citizens from Chittagong, even if they had settled there for a generation. The article also cites a 1975 admission by the Bangladeshi Ambassador that there were over half a million "Bengali trespassers" in Rakhine whom the Burmese authorities had a right to eject.
Communal Violence: The correspondence characterizes the conflict not merely as an insurrection against the state, but as a continuation of the communal riots between Buddhist Arakanese and Muslim Chittagonians that began in 1942.
Smuggling and Economy: The Mujahid Party funded its rebellion primarily through the illegal smuggling of rice from Rakhine to East Pakistan, often with the cooperation of regional Pakistani officials facing rice shortages.
The author concludes that these historical documents provide essential context for the current crisis on the western frontier, highlighting the long-standing nature of the "Rohingya" identity dispute and the historical roots of the border's instability.
