Operation Dragon King

Part of the Rohingya conflict

Date

February – June 1978
(5 months)

Location

Northern Arakan, Burma

Result

Partial Burmese tactical victory

Insurgents severely weakened and forced to retreat to Burma-Bangladesh border
Failure to completely disarm and expel insurgents from Burma
Mass arrests and torture of alleged insurgent collaborators and sympathisers

Belligerents

Burma

Rohingya Patriotic Front

Commanders and leaders

Ne Win

Muhammad Jafar Habib
Muhammad Yunus
Nurul Islam

Strength

1,000+

Casualties and losses

200,000–250,000 fled to Bangladesh

Partial Burmese tactical victory

Operation Dragon King, also known as Operation Nagamin (Burmese: နဂါးမင်း စစ်ဆင်ရေး) or Operation King Dragon, was a large scale military operation conducted by the Tatmadaw in northern Arakan, Burma (present-day Rakhine State, Myanmar), during the rule of General Ne Win.

Officially, the operation was focused on the disarmament and expulsion of Rohingya insurgents in the area, some of whom had been fighting for an independent Islamic state in the region for nearly three decades. However, other sources claim that the operation was directed against Rohingya refugees from the Bangladesh Liberation War. This claim however, has also come into dispute, as other sources claim that they were in fact illegal immigrants.

The operation began on 6 February 1978, beginning in the village of Sakkipara in the Sittwe district, where there were mass arrests and torture of alleged collaborators and sympathisers of local insurgents. In the span of over three months, approximately 200,000 to 250,000 refugees, mostly Rohingya Muslims, fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, where the government Bangladesh offered them shelter in makeshift camps. The United Nations recognised them as refugees and began a relief operation.

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Wikipedia