Who are the Rohingya? Contested claims of their origin.
WHO ARE THE ROHINGYA? Figure : Map of Rakhine (former Arakan) state of Myanmar (Source : Map of Rakhine State-Wikipedia) The question is simple, but answering it is complex. The Rohingya are an ethnic, religious, and linguistic minority group from the northern Rakhine state (Harvard Divinity School, 2021). They are distinct from the major Burman group and share cultural traits that are more similar to those of South Asia (Matisoff, 2023). The Rohingya are predominantly Muslims who claim to be the descendants of Indo-Aryans but assert their indigeneity to western Myanmar, having lived there since precolonial times (Blakemore, 2019). However, their origin and identity are highly debated among scholars. C. R. Abrar citing Nicolaus (1995) argues that the influx of Muslim traders from Afghanis...