Lanka seeks India's help on US resolution

Ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government may again find itself in a tight spot over India’s vote on a resolution that the United States is set to sponsor at the United Nations Human Rights Council during the 25th session of the international organisation in March.

A day after the Washington made it clear that it would sponsor a resolution on Sri Lanka during the forthcoming session of the UNHRC, Colombo on Wednesday reached out to New Delhi seeking India’s support to preempt a call from the international organisation for an international probe into the allegations of war crimes committed by the island nation’s soldiers during the final crackdown on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G L Peiris met his Indian counterpart External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in New Delhi. He is understood to have sought New Delhi’s support to ensure that the resolution passed by the UNHRC did not call for an international probe into alleged violations of human rights in the island nation.

Khurshid, according to the sources, has not made any commitment, but told Peiris that Sri Lanka should engage with US directly, while New Delhi would take a call on its stand at an appropriate time.

The Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam had last year snapped its ties with the Congress and quit the UPA, accusing the government of taking a hardline stand at the UNHRC on the issue of the atrocities on the Tamils by the Sri Lankan Army during the military offensive against the LTTE.

The DMK and the All India Anna Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam (AIADMK) slammed the Union Government, alleging that New Delhi worked with Washington to dilute the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka.