ADVISORY COMMISSION ON RAKHINE STATE cooperation and cohabitation have repeatedly been interrupted by communal tension and armed upheavals. In 1942-43, during the chaotic circumstances of the Anglo-Japanese war, both communities suffered from violence and widespread displacement. More recently, in June and October 2012, the state was again marked by large-scale inter-communal violence, during which at least 192 people were killed (134 Muslims and 58 Rakhines). While both communities were hit hard by the violence, destruction to private property was highly asymmetric, as 7,422 out of 8,614 destroyed houses (about 86 percent) belonged to Muslims.3 Moreover, more than 95 percent of the approximately 140,000 IDPs generated by the conflict were Muslims, of which around 120,000 still remain in squalid IDP camps. In several areas – including the centre of Sittwe and Kyawkpyuh – most Muslims were forced to leave. At different times – and with varying intensity – both Rakhines and Muslims have sought to advance their political agendas through armed struggle against the central government. Shortly after Myanmar’s independence in 1948, a Muslim “mujahidin” rebellion erupted in Rakhine, demanding equal rights and an autonomous Muslim area in the north of the state. While the rebellion was eventually defeated, the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) revived the armed struggle in the 1980s, but lost its military potency in the late 1990s. When Harakat al-Yakin (later Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)) attacked Government security forces on 9 October 2016, it was one of the largest Muslim attacks on Government forces in living memory. On the Rakhine side, non-state armed groups of both nationalist and communist stripes have fought the Myanmar Army since independence. Today, the strongest Rakhine insurgency movement is the Arakan Army (AA), which was founded in Kachin in 2009, and which gradually has expanded its presence and operational capabilities in Rakhine. Over the past years, dozens of Myanmar security personnel have reportedly been killed by AA. To some extent, inter-communal conflict in Rakhine is a clash of narratives. As noted by the Commission, both Rakhines and Muslims draw extensively on historical events to legitimize political claims and to demonstrate protracted victimhood and historical injustices. Regretfully, these narratives are often exclusive and irreconcilable, ignoring the fears and grievances of the other community. 3 Final Report of Inquiry Commission on Sectarian Violence in Rakhine State, July 2013. FINAL REPORT 19