Why UN report linking Pahalgam attack to Myanmar refugees has invited India’s ire

A new United Nations report has ruffled feathers in New Delhi after suggesting a link between the Pahalgam terror attack and the treatment of Myanmar’s refugees in India.

The report, released by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, claimed that Rohingya refugees have faced “severe pressure” in India since the attack despite no involvement in the incident. But the Indian government has slammed the claim as “biased and baseless", accusing the UN of a “blinkered analysis".  

Here’s what the UN said, and why India is furious.

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In his latest assessment of Myanmar’s human-rights situation, UN Special Rapporteur Thomas H Andrews made a controversial reference to the terror attack in Pahalgam, which killed at least 26 tourists in Kashmir’s Baisaran valley.

Andrews claimed that “following the April 2025 terrorist attack on Hindu tourists in Jammu and Kashmir, refugees from Myanmar have been under severe pressure in India even though no individuals from Myanmar were involved in the attack.”

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He alleged that in recent months, several Myanmar refugees in India “have been summoned, detained, interrogated and threatened with deportation by Indian authorities.”

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 1.5 million refugees and asylum seekers from Myanmar are currently spread across Bangladesh, Malaysia, India, Thailand, and Indonesia.

India is home to thousands of Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state after brutal military crackdowns in 2017. Many have since taken shelter in camps across Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and parts of the Northeast.

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Although India is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, it has allowed these refugees to stay on humanitarian grounds, though their legal status remains precarious.

**How did India respond?
**

India did not take kindly to the UN report. Its strong disapproval was voiced during a session of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, where Lok Sabha MP Dilip Saikia firmly dismissed the claims made by UN Special Rapporteur Thomas H Andrews.

Saikia said the remarks had “no factual basis whatsoever,” calling them “biased and prejudiced” against India.

“My country rejects such prejudice and blinkered analysis by the Special Rapporteur,” he said, adding that the suggestion linking the Pahalgam terrorist attack to Myanmar refugees had “no factual bearing whatsoever.”

He urged the UN official to avoid relying on “unverified and skewed media reports whose sole purpose appears to be maligning India.”

Saikia, a BJP MP from Assam’s Darrang-Udalguri constituency, reminded the committee that India is home to over 200 million Muslims, nearly 10 per cent of the world’s Muslim population, who live in harmony with people of all faiths.

The Indian representative also raised concern over Myanmar’s deteriorating security situation, warning that it has significant “cross-border implications” for neighbouring countries, including an increase in drug smuggling, arms trafficking, and human trafficking.

He cautioned that India has noticed “an alarming level of radicalisation among some displaced persons,” which, he said, has affected local law and order in certain border areas.

Reiterating India’s consistent stance, Saikia called for “an immediate cessation of violence, release of political prisoners, unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance, and inclusive political dialogue” in Myanmar. He said lasting peace in the country could only come through “credible and participatory elections” and the “early restoration of democracy.”

‘Peace through political dialogue’

Saikia reaffirmed that India continues to back efforts that encourage trust and a “Myanmar-owned and Myanmar-led path toward peace, stability, and democracy,” in close partnership with ASEAN and the UN Secretary-General’s office.

Referring to India’s humanitarian assistance, he noted that following the March 2025 earthquake in Myanmar, India launched Operation Brahma, sending more than 1,000 metric tonnes of relief materials and medical teams as part of its first response.

This, he said, was built on earlier initiatives such as Operation Sahayata, carried out during Typhoon Hiyaki, and Operation Sadbhav, part of India’s ongoing support to the Myanmar people.

Saikia is among the members of a multi-party Indian delegation attending the 80th UN General Assembly, led by BJP MP Daggubati Purandeswari. The delegation also includes MPs VD Sharma, Rekha Sharma, Manoj Kumar Jha, P Wilson, GK Vasan, and Sandeep Kumar Pathak, among others.

The group also paid floral tributes at the bust of Mahatma Gandhi at the UN Headquarters in New York.

With input from agencies