India non-committal on UN resolution

Censuring Sri Lanka: Pressure on Centre to condemn Colombo

Notwithstanding an uproar in Parliament over allegations of brutality by the Sri Lankan Army during its 2009 offensive against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, New Delhi on Tuesday remained non-committal on supporting a proposed resolution in United Nations Human Rights Council censuring Colombo for alleged war-crimes against ethnic Tamils in the island nation.

Parliamentarians of the All India Anna Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and  the Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam  (DMK) created ruckus in both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, demanding India’s support to the UNHRC resolution condemning Sri Lanka for human rights violations by its armed forces during the conflict with the LTTE.

The government, however, maintained that it had never supported any resolution targeting a particular country in the UNHRC in the past, but would take a decision on Sri Lanka in due course of time, taking into account all aspects of the issue.

New Delhi is weighing options and assessing possible implications of succumbing to pressure from Tamil Nadu political parties and changing the traditional stand of not supporting country-specific resolution in the UNHRC.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna is likely to make a statement on the issue in both the Houses on Wednesday.

“First of all, the date (for debate and voting on the resolution in the UNHRC) has not yet been fixed and the traditional position of India has all along been — not only in respect of this case — that we normally do not support any country-specific resolution,” Finance Minister and Leader of House Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha, as the DMK and AIADMK MPs rushed to the well of the House soon after it assembled on Tuesday.

“But what view, on this issue, will be taken, will be determined, as and when the time is finalised in respect of the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council,” he said, as the agitating MPs raised slogans demanding India should take a firm stand to condemn human right violations by the Sri Lankan Army.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned without transacting any significant business, with some MPs of the Communist Party of India and even the ruling Congress from Tamil Nadu too joined the DMK and AIADMK members to decry violation of human rights by the Sri Lankan Army.

In letters to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha and DMK leader M Karunanidhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote that New Delhi was making efforts to achieve a “forward-looking” outcome that would avoid “deepening confrontation and mistrust” in Sri Lanka.

The US, France and Norway are likely to move a resolution at the UNHRC meet in Geneva seeking to censure Sri Lanka for gross violation of human rights by its armed forces during the 2009 war against the LTTE. The resolution may be debated at the UNHRC on March 21 and 22 and put to vote on March 23 next.

Just ahead of the debate and voting on the proposed resolution against Sri Lanka, a video-footage of the LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran’s son Balachandran’s body with five bullet marks triggered global outcry, as it indicated that the 12-year-old boy had been executed in cold blood. The video footage is part of a documentary to be aired by Channel 4 – a satellite TV channel of UK – on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government has dismissed the footage as concocted and is preparing to lobby hard to block the passage of the resolution. But the issue caused uproar in India, with political parties in Tamil Nadu disrupting the proceedings in Parliament, demanding that New Delhi should take a strong stand to condemn brutality by the Sri Lankan Army.

India is understood to be in touch with Sri Lanka on the issue and also had consultations with US, Norway and France on the issue. Government sources on Tuesday said that New Delhi would take a call after going through the final draft of the proposed resolution.

Sources said that it was a bit premature to tell now what stand New Delhi would eventually take, as there were still several days to go before the UNHRC would take up the resolution for debate.

Going by its stand of not supporting any country-specific resolution, India had recently abstained from voting on a resolution at the UNHRC against Syria. New Delhi is now assessing future implications if it goes against its traditional stand on voting on such resolutions.