During World War II , the Imperial Japanese Army ( IJA ) invaded British-controlled Burma . The British forces retreated and in the power vacuum left behind , considerable inter-communal violence erupted between Arakanese and Muslim villagers . The British armed Muslims in northern Arakan in order to create a buffer zone that would protect the region from a Japanese invasion when they retreated and to counteract the largely pro-Japanese ethnic Rakhines . The period also witnessed violence between groups loyal to the British and the Burmese nationalists . The Arakan massacres in 1942 involved communal violence between British-armed V Force Rohingya recruits and , polarizing the region along ethnic lines
Arakan massacres in 1942
Arakan massacres in 1942
Rohingya people