Area of operations Rakhine State | Strength 70 | |
Active 1974 (1974)–1982 (1982) Ideology Rohingya nationalism
Islamism Leaders Muhammad Jafar Habib
Muhammad Yunus
Nurul Islam Headquarters Buthidaung, Rakhine State | ||
The Rohingya Patriotic Front (abbreviated RPF) was a Rohingya insurgent group in Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). The group consisted of fighters led by Muhammad Jafar Habib, who was the former Secretary of the Rohingya Liberation Party (RLP).
History
In 1974, Muhammad Jafar Habib, the former Secretary of the RLP, founded the Rohingya Patriotic Front (RPF), after the failure and dissolution of the RLP. The RPF had around 70 fighters, and had Muhammad Jafar Habib as self-appointed Chairman, Nurul Islam, a Yangon-educated lawyer, as Vice-Chairman, and the Muhammad Yunus, a medical doctor, as Secretary General.
In March 1978, government forces launched a military operation named Operation King Dragon in northern Rakhine State, with the focus of expelling Rohingya insurgents in the area. As the operation extended farther into Rakhine State, tens of thousands of Rohingyas crossed the border, resulting in a large number of them seeking refuge around the border with Bangladesh.
In the early 1980s, more radical elements broke away from the Rohingya Patriotic Front, and formed the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO). The RPF ceased activity by the late 1980s.