Department of Immigration and National Registration director-general U Maung Maung Than said the assessment was based on criteria outlined in the 1982 Citizenship Law.

U Maung Maung Than said the assessments had been launched as a result of requests from those who identified as "Bengali" as well as from Rakhine Buddhists.

"The assessment process will only apply to those who have identified themselves as Bengalis," he said.

The process had begun on June 15 at the Taung Paw camp for internally displaced persons in Myay Pone Township where citizenship applications from about 100 people were being processed by assessment teams.

“Our scrutinising team includes people of both Rakhine and Bengali backgrounds and after the process at the township level it will progress to the state and Union level," U Maung Maung Than said.

A 40-year-old Muslim man who requested anonymity told Mizzima on June 15 that members of the Islamic community who wanted citizenship had no choice but to participate in the process.

"They told us that the government won't be able to do anything for use if we don't [participate], so this is essential if we want citizenship," he said.

U Kyaw Min, a resident of the state capital, Sittwe, said he would only participate in the process if he could identify as a Rohingya.

 “We will participate if they accept us as Rohingya; if not, we won't," U Kyaw Min said.

"We emphatically reject the term 'Bengali'", he said.

The 1982 Citizenship Law says that anyone who can provide documentary evidence to prove they were living in Rakhine State before January 4, 1948, and their children, are eligible to apply to become naturalised citizens.

Myanmar regained its independence from Britain on January 4, 1948.