https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arakan_massacres_in_1942
Tensions boiling in Arakan before the war erupted during the
Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia, and Arakan became the frontline in the conflict. The war resulted in a complete breakdown of civil administration and consequent development of habits of lawlessness exacerbated by the availability of modern arms.[
citation needed] The Japanese advance triggered an inter-communal conflict between Muslims and Buddhists. The Muslims fled towards British-controlled Muslim-dominated northern Arakan from Japanese-controlled Buddhist-majority areas, which stimulated a genocide of Rakhine Buddhists in British-controlled areas, particularly around Maungdaw. Failure of British counter-offensive attempted from December 1942 to April 1943 resulted in the abandonment of even more of the Muslim population as well as increase in inter-communal violence.
[3]
Moshe Yegar, a research fellow at Truman Institute,
Hebrew University of Jerusalem noted that hostility had developed between the Muslims and the Buddhists who had brought about a similar hostility in other parts of Burma.[
citation needed] This tension was let loose with the retreat of the British. With the approach of Japanese into Arakan, the Buddhists instigated cruel measures against the Muslims. Thousands, though the exact number is unknown, fled from Buddhist-majority regions to eastern Bengal and northern Arakan with many being killed or dying of starvation.[
citation needed] The Muslims in response conducted retaliatory raids from British-controlled areas, massacring scores of Buddhists and causing many Buddhists to flee to southern Arakan.
[4]
Aye Chan, a historian at
Kanda University in Japan, has written that as a consequence of acquiring arms from the Allies during World War II, Rohingyas tried to destroy the collaborationist Arakanese villages instead of resisting the Japanese.[
citation needed] Chan agrees that hundreds of Muslims fled to northern Arakan though states that the accounts of atrocities on them were exaggerated.[
citation needed] The British Army's
liaison officer Anthony Irwin in contrast praised the role of the V Force.
[5]
Muslims from Northern Rakhine State tortured, raped, and killed more than 20,000 Arakanese, including the Deputy Commissioner U Oo Kyaw Khaing.
[6][
better source needed] In return the Buddhist also killed a large number of Rohingya Muslims.
[7][
better source needed] The total casualty of both parties in that conflict is not certain and no concrete official reference can be found.
