“We stand by Myanmar in the hour of its crisis, we strongly condemn the terrorist attack on August 24-25 and condole the death of policemen and soldiers, we will back Myanmar in its fight against terrorism,” said a statement of the Indian ministry of external affairs the day after an ARSA attack on around 30 police and army posts, which the Myanmar army says triggered its ruthless counter-attack that has driven more than half a million Rohingya into Bangladesh. The Indian statement made no mention of the military’s retaliatory attacks.
India has also threatened to expel nearly 40,000 Rohingya migrants it says have illegally settled in the country, including 15,000 registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), provoking sharp criticism from the UN.