The Arakan Army (AA) presents itself as a force of justice, federalism, and civilian protection under the slogan of the “Way of Rakhita.” In reality, its rule in northern Arakan State has perfected what the Myanmar state began: the systematic exclusion of Rohingya Muslims. AA governance does not correct historical injustice it administers it more efficiently.

For the roughly 200,000 Rohingya still trapped in northern Arakan, equality under AA control is a fiction. Rights are not universal; they are rationed by ethnicity. Rohingya life is treated not as civilian life, but as a permanent security problem monitored, restricted, and disposable.

Ethnic Hierarchy by Design

AA-administered areas operate on a dual system. Rakhine communities are political stakeholders. Rohingya communities are administratively caged. Movement, farming, fishing, and trade are criminalized through permit regimes enforced only on Rohingya villages. In Maungdaw and Buthidaung, checkpoints, document seizures, arbitrary quotas, and collective punishment define daily life. These are not neutral security practices. They are instruments of ethnic control.

Forced Labor and Coerced Obedience

Since late 2023, the AA has revived forced labor as a governing tool. Rohingya villages in northern Maungdaw are compelled to supply daily labor quotas up to 50 civilians per village for military construction and logistics. Refusal is met with detention, violence, or threats of expulsion “from the country.” No such demands exist for neighboring Rakhine villages. The AA’s revolution is built on Rohingya coercion.

Starvation as Policy, Flight as Business

Economic collapse in Rohingya areas is not accidental. Movement bans, trade blockades, fabricated charges, confiscations, and punitive fines have pushed entire communities toward starvation. Around 80 percent of Rohingya households now face severe food insecurity.

Escape is allowed only at a price. Rohingya are forced to pay between 800,000 and 1.5 million kyats to smugglers to reach Bangladesh. This is managed displacement: make survival impossible, then profit from flight.

Erasure as Governance

When Rohingya die at sea, at borders, or under attack the AA responds with silence. Civilian deaths do not matter when the victims are Rohingya. This moral exclusion is reinforced linguistically. By refusing to name Rohingya as Rohingya, the AA repeats the same erasure that enabled genocide. Denial of identity becomes denial of responsibility.

Conclusion

A system that grants rights by ethnicity is not building federalism it is enforcing apartheid under a new flag. The Arakan Army’s rule divides civilians into those worth protecting and those meant to disappear. Until Rohingya Muslims are recognized as equal political subjects, AA claims of justice and equality are not misguided they are deliberately false.