Beatings, extortion and the seizure of their homes in Burma forced these women and 120 families from their village to flee Burma in early 2009. Picture: Greg Constantine. Who are Myanmar's Rohingya people? Often dubbed as one the world's most persecuted ethnic groups, the Rohingya are Muslims of Myanmar. Roughly about 8 lakh Rohingya live in Myanmar. Ethnically, they are much closer to the Indo-Aryan people of India and Bangladesh than the Sino-Tibetans that constitute the majority of Myanmar's population. They live in Rakhine state in the country's western coast. There is a controversy over their history in Myanmar. The Rohingya claim to have lived in the country for centuries, but the ruling military junta considers them recent immigrants. Ethnic groups also consider them outsiders How did the 1982 citizenship law affect them? According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the 1982 citizenship law deprived the Rohingyas of Myanmar...