Rohingya

Rohingya

The Rohingya people (Ruáingga /ɹuájŋɡa/, Burmese: ရိုဟင်ဂျာ rui hang gya /ɹòhɪ̀ɴɡjà/, Bengali: রোহিঙ্গা Rohingga /ɹohiŋɡa/) are an ethnic group who practice Islam and speak Rohingya, an Indo-European language of the Eastern Indic branch, closely related to Chittagonian and more distantly to Bengali. The origin of this group of people is disputed with some saying they are indigenous to the state of Rakhine (also known as Arakan, or Rohang in the Rohingya language) in Burma and others contending that they are Muslim migrants who originated in Bengal, latterly Bangladesh, and migrated to Burma during the period of British rule.

The Rohingya are linguistically related to the Indo-Aryan peoples of India and Bangladesh (as opposed to the mainly Sino-Tibetan languages of Burma). As of 2012, 800,000 Rohingya live in Burma. According to the United Nations, they are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Many Rohingya have fled to ghettos and refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, and to areas along the Thai-Burma border. The Rohingya have been in the news in the wake of the 2012 Rakhine State riots.