Muslims in Assam, Uttar Pradesh face potential ethnic cleansing

London: An international panel of legal and human rights experts has concluded that actions targeting Muslim communities in Assam and Uttar Pradesh amount to crimes against humanity, warning that the pattern of abuses signals a trajectory toward possible genocide. The findings were released in a report unveiled at King’s College London on Tuesday.

The report documents what it describes as systematic targeting of Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, including branding them as illegal immigrants, stripping citizenship rights and carrying out mass evictions. These measures, the panel states, mirror structures of racial segregation comparable to apartheid-era policies. It highlights that thousands were expelled from the state within a short period between 2025 and early 2026, intensifying concerns over forced displacement.

The panel also flagged political rhetoric in the state, stating that repeated portrayals of Muslims as outsiders contribute to a climate that enables large-scale violence. Such narratives, it warned, risk laying the groundwork for far more severe atrocities.

In Uttar Pradesh, the report identifies policing practices described as “half-encounters” as forms of inhuman treatment, alongside punitive demolitions of homes belonging to Muslim protesters. It further points to discrimination against meat traders and alleged misuse of anti-conversion laws as part of a broader pattern of repression that falls within the scope of crimes against humanity.

Prepared by experts from Serbia, Indonesia and the United States, the report concludes that avenues for justice remain effectively inaccessible for affected communities. It calls for urgent intervention by the United Nations, including the establishment of an independent fact-finding mission, and recommends international sanctions against those deemed responsible.