Claims of UN report on Rohingya refugees misleading and one-sided : India

New Delhi – India has strongly condemned the recent report presented by United Nations Special Rapporteur Thomas Andrews on Human Rights in Myanmar, calling it biased and based on religious prejudice. The report claims that the April Pahalgam terror attack has led to increased pressure and harassment of Rohingya refugees in India.

Raising the issue in the joint session of the general assembly, BJP MP Dilip Saikia stated, “the allegations made in the report are false, misleading, and an attempt to malign India. The report ignores the suffering of the innocent victims of the Pahalgam attack and instead focuses on portraying India in a negative light. The report implying “systematic pressure” or “targeted harassment” is baseless. Saikia emphasized that India strongly demands accountability from UN officials, who present such “blatantly one-sided and irresponsible assessments. India is a secular nation, home to more than 20 crore Muslims—nearly 10% of the world’s Muslim population. To accuse India of religious bias is unacceptable. The UN envoy’s report is based on selective and ill-informed media sources,” Saikia said. He further pointed out that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) is responsible for violence in Myanmar, and that extremist-backed refugee groups have been involved in spreading unrest in various regions in India. He referred to an Amnesty International Report that recorded ARSA’s attack on Hindu communities in Myanmar in August 2017, in which 99 Hindus were killed.

Anti-India report by Andrews

Despite being innocent, some Rohingyas were detained for questioning after the Pahalgam attack, about 40 were released by sea route to Myanmar coast, and some were repatriated to Bangladesh.