The Rohingyas’ Predicament and their Options

Presented by SFU’s David Lam Centre, Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies, and Global Asia Program

A panel with MQ Zaman, Robert Anderson, and Kawser Ahmed, and special guest Jawad Qureshi .

Refugees having been crossing the frontier between Arakan in Myanmar and Bangladesh for 226 years. They were [in 1801] the cause of the establishment of the vast camp now called Cox’s Bazaar. This is not just a 21st c problem, but it needs 21st c solutions which are historically- informed, imaginative, and sustainable.

The panelists provided an overview of the future faced by the Rohingya people. The panel assessed the ineffectiveness of international sanctions and the challenges in holding the Myanmar military accountable for their atrocities which fit in a pattern of genocide (pending a decision by the International Court of Justice). Their predicament stresses the need for a decisive international response to resolve the crisis, prosecute the perpetrators, and prevent such human rights violations in the future.

Bob Anderson focused on the 18th c origins of the trans-frontier problem, when in 1799 there were 25,000 Arakan refugees fleeing the Burma Army, crossing the Naf River and settling at a camp which soon became known as Cox’s Bazaar. The process by which they lost their status in both countries was complicated in the mid-20th c by geopolitics in their strongest regional form. The panel will consider the obstacles to the probability of repatriation.

MQ Zaman examined the unsolved matter of Rohingya repatriation, emphasizing the vulnerable circumstances encountered by a million refugees in Bangladesh, and dispersed around the world. Zaman argues that the Rohingya issues are proving to be far more complex than a refugee repatriation case, and are tapped into many contradictory strands of regional and international politics.

Kawser Ahmed examined the relations of Rohingya communities and the Arakan Army (AA), whose territorial and strategic gains in Rakhine State illustrate the shifting power dynamics in post-coup Myanmar and in Rakhine State. He has just returned from consulting in Bangladesh on this predicament.

Zaman, Anderson, and Ahmed are editors of the new book Rohingya Stories: history and geopolitics in a multipolar world, Springer Nature, 2025

Special guest Jawad Qureshi assessed Canadian perspectives on the Rohingya predicament.