India denies Rohingya mistreatment claims at UN, calls allegations biased and communal
United Nations (The Uttam Hindu): India has strongly condemned a human rights report on Myanmar, calling it biased and communal. It claimed that the Pahalgam terrorist massacre in April has influenced the treatment of Rohingya migrants.
Regarding this, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Dilip Saikia said on Tuesday, “I strongly condemn the biased communal approach adopted by the Special Rapporteur (SR) towards the innocent victims of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in April 2025.”
“The allegation that this terrorist attack has affected displaced people from Myanmar is not factual at all,” Saikia, a BJP MP, said at a briefing on human rights in Myanmar.
That was the accusation leveled against India by the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, US Democratic politician-turned-Harvard academic Thomas Andrews. In response, Saikia said, “My country rejects such biased and narrow ‘analysis’ by the Special Rapporteur.”
Dilip Saikia is one of the parliamentarians joining India's delegation to the General Assembly. Referring to the Rohingya in India, he said, "My country is witnessing an alarming level of radicalization among the displaced, resulting in pressure and impact on the law and order situation."
The Rohingya organisation behind the crisis in Myanmar is the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), led by Karachi-born Rohingya Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi.
According to Amnesty International, in August 2017, ARSA carried out communal attacks on Hindus in Myanmar, killing 99 women, men, and children. In addition, many were kidnapped.
Regarding India's approach towards Myanmar, Saikia said that India is in favour of immediate cessation of violence, release of political prisoners, uninterrupted supply of humanitarian assistance, and inclusive political dialogue.
He further said, “We firmly believe that lasting peace can only be ensured through inclusive political dialogue and the early restoration of democratic processes through credible and participatory elections.”
Thomas Andrews claimed in his report that after the Pahalgam terrorist attack, “Myanmar refugees are under immense pressure in India, even though no one from Myanmar was involved in the attack.”
Andrews gave it a communal colour, saying the terrorist attack was carried out on "Hindu tourists", while the terrorists' intention was to kill non-Muslims and their victims included a Christian.
To this, BJP MP Saikia told Andrews, “Do not rely on such unverified and biased media reports whose sole purpose appears to be to defame my country, where people of all religions live, including more than 20 crore Muslims, which is about 10 percent of the world's Muslim population.”
Andrews, a former Democratic Party member of the US Congress and now director of Harvard University's Southeast Asia Human Rights Project, said Rohingya refugees told him that in recent months they had been "summoned, detained, interrogated, and threatened with deportation by Indian authorities."
He alleged that about 40 Rohingya refugees were abandoned by sea on the Myanmar coast, while others were sent to Bangladesh. The Rohingya exodus began in August 2017 after the militant group ARSA attacked Myanmar security checkpoints, which led to a massive retaliatory crackdown.