UN report accuses India of persecuting Rohingya refugees
UN expert says India intensified detentions and deportations of Rohingya refugees after Pahalgam attack; New Delhi calls report biased
NEW YORK (MNTV) — A United Nations human-rights report has accused India of intensifying persecution of Rohingya refugees following a deadly April 2025 attack in Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir, alleging arbitrary detentions, deportations, and intimidation of displaced families.
In his briefing to the UN General Assembly, Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said that “refugees from Myanmar have been under severe pressure in India even though no individuals from Myanmar were involved in the deadly April 2025 attack in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.”
According to Andrews, Rohingya refugees reported being “summoned, detained, interrogated, and threatened with deportation by Indian authorities.” The report said at least 40 Rohingya refugees were taken by sea and abandoned off Myanmar’s coast, while others were expelled to Bangladesh — actions that, if confirmed, would violate international law prohibiting forced repatriation.
Rights advocates argued that India’s actions form part of a regional trend of hostility toward the stateless Muslim minority, which has faced genocide and displacement since Myanmar’s 2017 military crackdown.
India’s delegation rejected the findings, calling them “biased” and “communal.” BJP Member of Parliament Dilip Saikia accused Andrews of “adopting a prejudiced approach” and said the claim that the Kashmir attack influenced India’s treatment of displaced persons “has absolutely no factual bearing.”
“My country rejects such blinkered analysis,” Saikia said, adding that India was witnessing what he described as “radicalization among displaced persons leading to law-and-order challenges.”
Human-rights observers and refugee agencies have long documented a worsening environment for Rohingya in India. Hundreds have been detained in Jammu, Assam, and Delhi under preventive-detention laws, while deportations have continued despite appeals from UNHCR and international rights groups.
The report’s release comes amid growing scrutiny of India’s refugee and citizenship policies, which observers say align with a Hindu-majoritarian agenda that marginalizes Muslims at home and abroad.
Analysts note that New Delhi continues to present itself as a humanitarian actor in regional crises while simultaneously tightening its borders against Muslim refugees.
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