Rohingya Patriotic Front

On 26 April 1964, the Rohingya Independence Front (RIF) was established with the goal of creating an autonomous Muslim zone for the Rohingya people. The name of the group was changed to the Rohingya Independence Army (RIA) in 1969 and then to the Rohingya Patriotic Front (RPF) on 12 September 1973.^[3] In June 1974, the RPF was reorganised with Muhammad Jafar Habib as self-appointed president, Nurul Islam, a Rangoon-educated lawyer, as vice president, and Muhammad Yunus, a medical doctor, as secretary general.^[4]

On 6 February 1978, the socialist military junta of General Ne Win began Operation Nagamin (Operation Dragon King) in northern Arakan (Rakhine State), one of the objectives of which was to arrest members of the RPF.^[5] The operation created disagreements between the RPF, causing the organisation to split into several factions, many of which later merged to become the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) in 1982.^[3] In 1986, the RPF merged with a faction of the RSO led by the former vice president of the RPF, Nurul Islam, and became the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF).^[6][7]