Timeline: How the crackdown on Myanmar's Rohingya unfolded | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
May 16, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2025
Timeline: How the crackdown on Myanmar's Rohingya unfolded

Rohingya Crisis

TBS Report
10 December, 2019, 11:45 am
Last modified: 10 December, 2019, 11:58 am

Related News

  • Awami League: From 1949 to 2025 
  • No agreement on humanitarian corridor for Rakhine: National security adviser
  • Dhaka's renewed push puts Rohingya crisis back in global spotlight: Shafiqul Alam
  • Accountability key to resolving Rohingya crisis: Dhaka
  • UN chief vows to 'speak loud' to avert ration cuts for Rohingyas in Bangladesh

Timeline: How the crackdown on Myanmar's Rohingya unfolded

Around 740,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya fled into neighbouring Bangladesh when the military swept through villages in western Rakhine state in 2017

TBS Report
10 December, 2019, 11:45 am
Last modified: 10 December, 2019, 11:58 am
Ten Rohingya men with their hands bound kneel as members of the Myanmar security forces stand guard in Inn Din village in September 2017/ Reuters
Ten Rohingya men with their hands bound kneel as members of the Myanmar security forces stand guard in Inn Din village in September 2017/ Reuters

Aung San Suu Kyi, former political prisoner, Nobel Peace Prize winner and now Myanmar's civilian leader, is in the Netherlands to defend the country against charges of genocide in relation to a brutal 2017 crackdown on its Rohingya minority.

Around 740,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya fled into neighbouring Bangladesh when the military swept through villages in western Rakhine state after an armed group attacked a number of security posts.

The United Nation's top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), will start hearing the case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar on Tuesday.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

The International Criminal Court has also approved a full investigation of allegations of crimes against humanity committed during the military crackdown, while Aung San Suu Kyi herself has been accused of committing crimes against the Rohingya in a case brought in Argentina.

Myanmar has denied charges of genocide.

Here is a timeline of events from 2017 reported by Al Jazeera: 

August 2017

On August 25, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), later declared a 'terrorist' group by the government, attacks more than 30 police posts, reportedly killing 12 members of security forces.

As the clashes worsen, thousands of Rohingya begin to flee across the border into Bangladesh.

September 2017

The Rohingya join some 200,000 who had fled to Bangladesh during earlier waves of violence. 

Many speak of abuses by the army and members of the mostly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine.

The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights calls the military operation in the state a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing", citing satellite imagery and accounts of extrajudicial killings. 

In her first statement on the crisis on September 19, Aung San Suu Kyi promises to hold those who have committed rights abuses to account, but refuses to blame the army.

She adds that she is open to bringing some of the Rohingya home pending a "verification process".

October 2017

Army commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, tells US ambassador Scot Marciel that the Rohingya are not natives of Myanmar. 

November 2017

Aung San Suu Kyi makes her first visit to Rakhine since the crackdown and urges people "not to quarrel".

December 2017

The UN human rights chief warns of possible "elements of genocide" in the Rakhine crackdown, and calls for an international investigation.

Two Reuters journalists - Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo - are detained in Yangon and accused of breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The two were working on an investigation into a massacre of Rohingya men at the village of Inn Din, where the military later say they have found unidentified bodies in a mass grave.

The US imposes sanctions on 13 "serious human rights abusers and corrupt actors" including the general who oversaw the crackdown. 

January 2018

The military says its soldiers murdered 10 captured Muslims in Inn Din during "insurgent attacks". Their bodies were the ones discovered in the mass grave.

March 2018

Myanmar's military is building bases where some Rohingya homes and mosques once stood, Amnesty International says.

April 2018

Myanmar jails seven soldiers for the killings in Inn Din. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo remain on trial and in September are found guilty of breaching the Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years in prison.

July 2018

Myanmar sets up a commission to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in Rakhine. 

August 2018

UN investigators call for senior Myanmar officials to face genocide charges over their treatment of the Rohingya, saying the military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya with "genocidal intent".

The actions of the armed forces "undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law", it said in a report based on 875 interviews with witnesses and victims, satellite imagery and verified photos and videos. 

October 2018

Marzuki Darusman, the chair of the United Nations fact-finding mission on Myanmar, says Rohingya who remain in the Buddhist-majority country "continue to suffer the most severe" restrictions and repression.

"It is an ongoing genocide that is taking place," Darusman said, as he prepared to brief the Security Council on his team's findings.

March 2019

Myanmar's military says it has established a military court to investigate its conduct during the 2017 crackdown. 

September 2019

In a damning report, the United Nations fact-finding mission in Myanmar warns that the Rohingya still in the country live in deplorable conditions and at "serious risk" of genocide.

"Myanmar continues to harbour genocidal intent," the investigators said in their report.

May 2019

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are freed under a presidential amnesty. A few days later, the soldiers jailed over Inn Din are given early release.

November 2019

International pressure on Myanmar grows as The Gambia takes the country to the ICJ, the ICC says it will conduct a full investigation of allegations of crimes against humanity during the military crackdown, and Aung San Suu Kyi is accused of committing crimes against the Rohingya in a case brought in Argentina

Suu Kyi announces she will lead the Myanmar delegation to The Hague and defend the country against charges of genocide.

The military begins rare courts-martial of soldiers and officers from a regiment deployed to Gu Dar Pyin village, the site of an alleged massacre of Rohingya. Military spokesman Zaw Min Tun says the men were "weak in following the rules of engagement".

Top News

Rohingya Crisis / Rohingya genocide / Timeline

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Jagannath University students gather at Kakrail on 16 May 2025. Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS
    JnU students continue Kakrail sit in, hunger strike after Jummah prayers amid DMP ban on rallies, demos
  • Infographic: TBS
    Govt goes for $4b hard loans for fuel imports, dev projects
  • File photo of different varieties of rice. Photo: TBS
    Rice prices fall further, eggs become costlier

MOST VIEWED

  • Up to 20% dearness allowance for govt employees likely from July
    Up to 20% dearness allowance for govt employees likely from July
  • Infographics: TBS
    Textile sector under pressure; big players buck the trend
  • Shift to market-based exchange rate regime – what does it mean for the economy?
    Shift to market-based exchange rate regime – what does it mean for the economy?
  • Representational image. Photo: TBS
    Prime mover workers to go on nationwide strike tomorrow
  • Rais Uddin, general secretary of the university's teachers' association, made the announcement while talking to the media last night (15 May). Photo: Videograb
    JnU teachers, students to go on mass hunger strike after Friday prayers
  • Representational image. Photo: ADEK BERRY / AFP
    Dollar steady at Tk122.50, experts say more time needed to realise impact

Related News

  • Awami League: From 1949 to 2025 
  • No agreement on humanitarian corridor for Rakhine: National security adviser
  • Dhaka's renewed push puts Rohingya crisis back in global spotlight: Shafiqul Alam
  • Accountability key to resolving Rohingya crisis: Dhaka
  • UN chief vows to 'speak loud' to avert ration cuts for Rohingyas in Bangladesh

Features

Hatitjheel’s water has turned black and emits a foul odour, causing significant public distress. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

Blackened waters and foul stench: Why can't Rajuk control Hatirjheel pollution?

15h | Panorama
An old-fashioned telescope, also from an old ship, is displayed at a store at Chattogram’s Madam Bibir Hat area. PHOTO: TBS

NO SCRAP LEFT BEHIND: How Bhatiari’s ship graveyard still furnishes homes across Bangladesh

1d | Panorama
Sketch: TBS

‘National University is now focusing on technical and language education’

2d | Pursuit
Illustration: TBS

How to crack the code to get into multinational companies

2d | Pursuit

More Videos from TBS

Season's First Mango Harvest Begins in Rajshahi

Season's First Mango Harvest Begins in Rajshahi

1h | TBS Today
Ben Cohen arrested for protesting US support for Israel

Ben Cohen arrested for protesting US support for Israel

13h | TBS News Updates
What is the secret behind the success of Pakistan's Chinese J-10C fighter jet?

What is the secret behind the success of Pakistan's Chinese J-10C fighter jet?

13h | Others
Why are Jagannath University students and teachers on a blockade?

Why are Jagannath University students and teachers on a blockade?

14h | Podcast
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net