After Burmese independence in 1948, the President of Burma Sao Shwe Thaik appointed Gaffar as one of the seven members of the Inquiry Commission of Arakan in 1949.

[2][3] Gaffar was born in 1910 in the Rwanynotaung village of Buthidaung in Arakan Division, Burma Province, British India.

Gaffar attended the Chittagong Senior Madrasa in the Bengal Presidency, where he completed his secondary school studies in 1924.

[2]Despite Gaffar's call for constitutional recognition of his community, and increased Rohingya political participation in the 1950s; the Indian minority in Arakan faced discrimination after the 1962 Burmese coup d'état.

Rohingyas are restricted from state education, government jobs and freedom of movement in Myanmar, with the conditions being described as similar to apartheid.