FirstpostEbook SriLanka 20130322072921

How Sri Lanka became
centre stage in India
Table of contents
The Sri Lanka problem

Why Tamil Nadu is right to call Sri Lankas war a genocide Karunanidhi is wrong to reinvent Eelam war as genocide of Tamils Chilling new Channel 4 images: Will India act at least now? Channel 4 documentary full of half truths, says Sri Lanka UNHRC must launch probe into SL war crimes: HRW One more report nails Sri Lankas lies; time for action is now! Sri Lanka rejects US resolution on human rights violation Why plight of Lankan Tamils highlights the hypocrisy of nations Why India needs Jayalalithaa to take on Rajapaksa and SL 05 08 11 14 15 16 19 20 22
Tamil Nadu fights for Lankan Tamils

Lanka vote: Revival of Tamil chauvinism is ruinous India must take historic stance on Lankan Tamils issue: Jaya Swelling student agitations: Why Lanka cannot ignore TN Tamil film industry fumes against Sri Lanka BJP joins swelling Chennai student protests against Lanka Committed to the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils: Sonia Gandhi 25 28 30 32 33 35
The DMK pullout

Karunanidhis 11th hour drama: Is it for real this time? DMK withdrawal: UPA reduced to unstable, minority govt Balance is tilting against UPA after the DMK pullout What does the DMK want from the UPA on Sri Lanka? Lameduck UPAs survival instincts have just got better Jaya ridicules Karuna, says he should have quit UPA earlier 37 39 40 42 43 45
Copyright 2012 Firstpost
The UN resolution
UNHRC adopts US-sponsored resolution against Lanka India supporting diluted US resolution disappointing: DMK Has India watered down UN resolution against SL yet again? Government denies diluting US resolution on Sri Lanka Manmohan Singh briefed on US-sponsored resolution on Lanka US resolution diluted because India accepted Colombo report: DMK Hopeful of Indian backing at UNHRC: Sri Lanka 47 49 50 52 53 54 55
The Sri Lanka problem
Why Tamil Nadu is right to call
Sri Lankas war a genocide

The issue here is not about a few hundred or thousand people more or less, or not even about numbers, but the sheer callous act of willfully killing people, including women and children, of a particular ethnicity.
G Pramod Kumar Mar 20, 2013
part of the national debate on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue in the wake of the second US resolution at the UNHRC in another two days is increasingly disturbing because its not only dismissive of the tenets of human rights, but is advanced without any cultural and political context. The most repeated keywords sovereignty and geopolitics summarise the ruthlessness of the argument. Human lives and brutal memories dont matter in a world of perceived geopolitical gains. Its not surprising that the purveyors of this view which dismisses evidence-based charges of war crimes and human rights violations
against the Sri Lankan government as a sovereign nations internal issue comprises former diplomats, civil servants, strategic affairs hawks and some fringe beneficiaries. They are also unabashed in their utilitarian view that supporting the Sri Lankan government is unavoidable for Indias geopolitical gains, because otherwise you know, China will eat us up. The most shocking element of the systematic pro-Sri Lanka voice is the rubbishing of the argument that what happened in Sri Lanka in 2009 was a genocide. Tamil parties, including both the ruling AIADMK and the DMK, and rights activists across the world insist that it was a genocide. They want the UNHRC resolution to
say that. How can the world have one standard for Sri Lanka and another for Guatemala? By the way whats a genocide? According to the UN, any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. (OHCHR) Then why, to some, would the Sri Lankan action not be a genocide? Because, apparently, in a war there will be civilian casualties and military excesses. This is the unavoidable sad truth of wars. The world wars had incidents wherein a large number of innocent civilians lost lives, but in the interest of the majority and the security of the rest of the world, they were justifiable. When people from a particular race die and suffer in a war at the hands of its own government, it is not a genocide! So, The first step towards building this argument is changing the terminology from civil war to mere war. But a war against ones own people? Granted, the separatist movement in the North and the East had become a bloody terrorist group that was killing countless innocents, but that doesnt mean that the country couldnt oragnise any other response than going to war against its own civilian citizens. Its alright if you could surgically hit at terror, but not scorch the land along with its people to clean it up. And in this case, the government forces killed its citizens of a particular ethnicity, namely Tamils. Remember, that we are living in a world where the independence movements of Kosovo and Timor Leste were backed by the international community, and Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt is on trial for genocide com-
mitted during the civil war in his country. And the estimate of civilian casualties by the UN is about 40,000. This number is proportionately huge compared to the total number of Tamils in the area at the time of the war about 300,000. Roughly one-seventh cleaned up. Why is this not a genocide or ethnic cleansing? Of course, Sri Lanka had a bloody problem on its hands- the Tamil Tigers had ravaged their country for a long time and they wanted a solution. But what the government conveniently ignored was that the terror was the result of ignoring a political issue that represented the aspirations of a culturally and politically distinctive majority of Tamils in their homeland. Statistically, Tamils account for 18 per cent of Sri Lanka; but in their homeland of the north and the east they were more than 90 per cent. The pro-Sri Lanka commentators argue without a context which is that the North and east had a past of cultural and political autonomy which couldnt have been dominated by a Sinhala government. The Tamil and Sinhala regions had been distinctively separate and autonomous and its only because of the colonial rule that they came together as a single nation state. How can anybody forcefully take away the centuries old cultural and political autonomy of a population and apply instruments of Sinhala homogenisation? Even a cursory reading of Sri Lankas political history is good enough to get a sense of the systematic efforts at Sinhala nationalisation and the resultant marginalisation- of its Tamils, who are the majority in their homeland, by the successive governments in Colombo. The only way that the Tamil region could have been part of the country was through sheer cultural and political autonomy as we have in India. That is what India also had pushed for in its 1987 accord and the 13th amendment. However successive Buddhist nationalist governments never wanted to acknowledge that. You shudder watching videos of Sinhalese army men questioning Tamils (before perhaps executing them) in Sinhala or Sinhala tinged pidgin. The same thing also happened (and still happens) in the Tamil dominated Wellawatta in Colombo.
Now, the argument over numbers of Tamils during the final push and the number of civilian deaths. The question is if that many people really died. And the instrument of obfuscation here is the methodology of size estimation. Pro-Sri Lanka advocates say the UN or the others didnt use a reliable methodology. Without a census, how do you do a headcount? We are talking about a population that has been untouched by any other government than the parallel establishment of the LTTE for more than two decades. This is the same situation that social scientists come across in terms of estimating numbers of a hidden populations (say sex workers or gay men in a society where their activity is either illegal or stigmatised). Methods of size estimation that might not be completely scientific, but practical (for e.g. snowballing) is perfectly fine in such situations. You find them even in peer reviewed journals. And it is not a new practice. The issue here is not about a few hundred or thousand people more or less, or not even about numbers, but the sheer callous act of willfully killing people, including women and children, of a particular ethnicity. While trying to disprove the gravity by questioning the numbers, what they also do is conveniently ignore the qualitative accounts of witnesses and survivors and other forms of evidence which established that the army targeted its own people. In fact, there is a huge mountain of such evidence. These accounts are ratified by the UN and others as well. Using cold numbers to cover up State-sponsored excesses is an old trick. The Cage by UN spokesman in Colombo during the war, Gordon Weiss, has extensive accounts by UN officials trapped inside the war zone that exposes the culpability of the government. It clearly says how the military targeted civilian areas when the UN aid workers sent the government their GPS coordinates, and finally how they stopped this standard operating procedure. At the height of the war, the proxies of the nationalists and the government targeted the
UN and even charged that they were harbouring Tamil terrorists. Its in this context of racial hatred and paranoia that killing of Tamils becomes a real genocide! This is where stories and not statistics as Shiv Vishwanathan said on Firstpost, are important. This is where memories are important in standing up to ruthlessness as Salman Rushdie said. I have attended several courts of women (public hearing of women who suffered atrocities from racism to trafficking) in different countries and have personally experienced that up close, the trauma of even a single instance of rights violation passes through generations until there is an emotional closure. I guess that is why oral testimonies, Gordon Weiss, the UN, Human Rights Watch and Channel 4 documentaries make more sense than the numbers of casualties, injuries and rehabilitation. A recent mainstream Brazilian film Elite Squad 2 -, by a scholarly Jose Padilha (who made the sensational documentary Bus 174) shows how the political-police mafia guns down inconvenient criminals in certain pockets of Rio favelas so that the slum-dwellers become useful as consumers in the market. In official accounts, we would have seen only some numbers and cleansing of a slum. Lastly, the point of keeping away from countries in the name of sovereignty is a flawed argument because in that case, people should be left to suffer famines and genocides for Kosovos, Guatemalas, Sudans and Rwandas to happen again and again! (The Buddhist right wing in Sri Lanka is now targeting Muslims. The Bodu Bala Sena (Literally the army of Budhist power) group have recently forced the abolishment of Halal certification and now they want to change how Muslim women dress. Rajapaksa probably now knows that the Tamils will not vote for him and hence doesnt want the Sinhala vote to split between him and the UNP. So he is targeting the Muslims as well so that there is a majority consolidation as we saw elsewhere.)
Karunanidhi is wrong to reinvent Eelam war as genocide of Tamils

While Karunanidhi is right to be concerned about Sri Lanka making progress on political rights for Tamils, the matter is for Sri Lankans, Sinhala and Tamil to resolve - not India.
Praveen Swami, Mar 19, 2013 There are lots of pragmatic reasons Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)leader Karunanidhis demand for a Parliamentary resolution condemning Sri Lanka should be ignored. Sri Lanka is an important neighbour, and alienating it will give China greater influence in the Indian ocean. The LTTEs remnants and apologists will gain momentum. Indian states, moreover, cant run foreign policy: recall the damage done to the pro-India government in Bangladesh by Mamata Banerjee. Dr Karunanidhi is reported to be a well-read man, so he probably knows all thisand doesnt care. Its about principle, right?
n February 1945, as the Second World War neared savage end, British prime minister Winston Churchill ordered 300 bombers over the city Dresden. They dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs on Dresden. People were caught in fires as hot as 1000 C, Britains National Archives record. Investigations conducted by a historical commission later concluded that between 22,700 and 25,000 people were killed. Historians of the war still debate whether Churchills cold-blooded decision to target civilians was a war crime or an act that saved lives, by breaking the will of Germans to fight on.
Yet, it is hard to grasp just what that principle actually is. Every leader of every nation which has had to fight an existence-threatening war has had to confront dilemmas like the one which faced Churchill at one time or the other. Sri Lankas war against the LTTE, most barbaric mass-murderers since Pol Pot, was as legitimate as wars can be. There is no getting around this and India will disgrace itself by denying this. Was there a massacre in 2009? First, though, it is important to get the facts straight or as straight as they can be possibly be, which is about as straight as a piglets tail. Karunanidhi will all tell you with, with unblinking sincerity, that the answer is yes. Mahinda Rajapakse, Sri Lankas president, will give you a flat-out no. The simple answer, for those of us without a dog in the race, is that we dont have enough data to attempt an unequivocal answer. There are all sorts of estimates that have emerged on civilian fatalities since the end of the Eelam war, from the United Nations, human rights groups and from propagandists: 20,000; 40,000; 70,000; 147,000. The multiple estimates of civilian casualties all derive from a methodology first proposed by the University Teachers for Human Rights, a Jaffna-based human rights group. To cut a long story short read their report here the UTHR proposed deducting the number of civilians who arrived at the governments refugee camps from those known to be living in the no-fire zone. Fair enough. The problem, though, is we dont know how many people were living there, with any accuracy. The government agent in Mullaitivu District, K Parthipan, estimated the population at around 330,000 in February, 2009 but it is important to note he arrived at this number without a census, using information from headmen. Parthipan had no way, moreover, of distinguishing civilians from LTTE conscripts and irregulars. Moreover, he had no way of accounting for people who fled the zone. His numbers werent supported by the United Nations analysis of satellite images, which suggested a population of 267,618. The United Nations panel which published its report last year tried a rule-of-thumb calculation of 1:2 or 1:3 civilian dead for every
person known to be injured, which suggested 15,000-22,500 fatalities. However, it eventually plumped for an estimate of 40,000, based on Parthipans deeply unreliable numbers. It did not, moreover, distinguish between civilians and LTTE cadre a fact noted by the United States state departments December, 2009 report to Congress. The LTTEs regular forces, estimated by experts at around 30,000, was backed by irregulars called the makkal padai, as well as large masses of press-ganged conscripts. Did Sri Lanka use disproportionate force? This is the core argument of Sri Lankas critics. The claim isnt, however, as uncontested as Tamil nationalist politicians would have us believe. The Sri Lanka Armys use of heavy weapons wasnt one-sided. There is plenty of evidence, from satellite imaging, that right up to 17 May, the Sri Lankan army was facing fire from LTTEs 130mm, 140mm and 152mm artillery. The Sri Lanka army claims to have been losing over 40 soldiers a day during the last phases of the war a fairly heavy toll, justifying retaliation. From leaked diplomatic cables, we know diplomats on the ground at the time didnt believe the Sri Lankan army was using disproportionate force. The United States former ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, sent a confidential cable to Washington, DC, on 26 January, 2009, saying that the Sri Lankan army has a generally good track record of taking care to minimise civilian casualties during its advances. John Williamson, the United States ambassador at large for war crimes, met with Jacques de Maio, the International Committees head of operations, on 9 July, 2009. Sri Lankas army, Williamson recorded de Maio as saying, actually could have won the military battle faster with higher civilian casualties, yet chose a slower approach which led to a greater number of Sri Lankan military deaths. Its worth noting, too, that the United Nations panel itself acknowledged that the LTTE put some of those civilians in harms way. The report found patterns of conduct whereby the LTTE deliberately located or used mortar pieces or other light artillery, military vehicles, mortar pits, and trenches in proximity to civilian
areas. The Canadian journalist DBS Jebaraj, has graphically described how the LTTE forced civilians into the Karaichikkudiyiruppu area to defeat an offensive by the Sri Lankan armys 55 division and 59 division. Dont believe with Jebaraj? Theres plenty of other evidence. Photographs taken by a cameraman for the London Times on 24 May, 2009, for example, clearly shot what appear to be pits for siting mortar, an arms trailer and a bunker sited in the midst of a civilian location in the no-fire zone. None of this, of course, settles things one way or the other and thats the point. There is very little doubt that Sri Lankan forces did commit crimes. They worked with savage paramilitaries out to settle scores against the LTTE. Perhaps LTTE Velupillai Prabhakarans son was executed in cold blood, as a recent Channel 4 documentary asserts. Perhaps Sri Lankans attempting to surrender were butchered. It doesnt follow from this, though, that Sri Lankas
campaign against the LTTE was a genocide we ought condemn. There hasnt been a war in history that hasnt witnessed some atrocities: the firebombing of Dresden, to Indias bombing of its own civilians in Aizwal in 1966, to the United States own barbarities in Fallujah. Part of the problem is that we have lost our ability to talk honesty about war, and what it entails. The language of war is killing, said 9/11 bomber Khalid Sheikh Mohammad to his interrogators; he was right. It just wont do for Karunandhi to reinvent the Eelam war as a genocide against the Tamils. He, like many Indians, is right to be concerned about Sri Lankas making progress on political rights for Tamils. That, however, is a matter for Sri Lankans, Sinhala and Tamil to resolve not us. Indians are rightly angered when foreigners, often with little history or context, hector the country on its problems. It is time for us to show the same consideration we seek.
Chilling new Channel 4 images:
Will India act at least now?

If the desperate cries of women and children under carpet bombing and summary executions werent enough for India to take a stand against Sri Lanka, will it still run away from spine-chilling new evidence that stares at its face?
f the desperate cries of women and children under carpet bombing, summary executions, and the tender body of slain LTTE leader V Prabhakarans young son werent enough for India to take a stand against Sri Lanka, will it still run away from spine-chilling new evidence that stares at its face?
bench in a sandbag bunker, then he munching something, and finally, lying dead with bullet injuries on his chest. We know this boy because we have seen his picture before. He is Balachandran Prabhakaran, the 12-year old son of slain LTTE leader V Prabhakaran. And the photos summarise the capture and cold-blooded murder of a young boy by his countrys military.
The new evidence, published by The Hindu , is unlikely to leave one for months. Its three photos in a sequence a young boy sitting on a
The Channel 4 image of the 12-year-old shortly before he was executed at close range. The photograph of the boy that we had seen a year ago was the third one, in which the boy lay dead with bullet injuries. It was part of the second edition of the documentary on Sri Lankas alleged war crimes by Britains Channel 4. The sequence of pictures today makes the story complete. The new photographs tell a chilling story. This child has not been lost of course: he has been captured and is being held in a sandbag bunker, apparently guarded by a Sri Lankan Army soldier. In less than two hours he will be taken, executed in cold blood and then photographed again. says Callum Macrae, director of the Channel 4 movie, in his op-ed article in The Hindu. Last year, Channel 4 had said that it had a sworn affidavit of an officer who said that the child, along with his bodyguards, were sent to the army to surrender, but they were interrogated to get the whereabouts of Prabhakaran before getting shot. With documentary evidence and forensic analysis, the channel has now proved this claim. The new evidence is part of the third documentary by Channel 4 on Sri Lankas war crimes titled, No War Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, which will be screened in Geneva next month, ahead of a second resolution that is coming up against the island nation at the UNHRC. The subtext of Macraes article is a direct hint at Indias dubious role at the UNHRC last year when the international community moved its first resolution against Sri Lanka. The aim of the resolution, sponsored by the US and supported by 23 countries, was to fix accountability for the countrys war crimes and to take genuine reparative steps. While most of the civilised world rallied behind the move, India not only sat on the fence till the last minute along with some rogue-nations and countries with dubious human rights records, it also ensured that the text of the resolution was toned down to make it virtually ineffective.
Macraes words make it clear that the new evidence is meant for India and that at least this time, the country needs to take a firm stand. He writes: The new evidence in the film is certain to increase pressure on the Indian government not only to support a resolution on Sri Lanka and accountability, but also to ensure that it is robustly worded, and that it outlines an effective plan for international action to end impunity in Sri Lanka. It is difficult to imagine the mindset of an army in which a child can be executed in cold blood with apparent impunity. It also raises extremely difficult questions for the Sri Lankan military. With every month that passes, the evidence of systematic execution of prisoners grows. The pattern of apparent sexual violence against female fighters is disturbing in the extreme. Macrae says that the photographs have been analysed by a forensic pathologist who confirmed that the boy had been shot at close range, so close that he could have touched the gun that killed him. He may have been forced to watch the execution of his bodyguards because he was not blindfolded. The forensic analysis also ruled out fabrication or manipulation of the images or their sequence. The first and second parts of the Channel 4 film had shocked the world with documentary evidence of the alleged killing of thousands of Tamil civilians and different forms of war crimes such as rapes and executions. A UN report also said about 40,000 people had been killed in the war. The film, together with a highly detailed account of the last phase of the war by Gordon Weiss, a former UN spokesperson in Colombo, led to a tide of international opinion against Sri Lanka that culminated in the resolution at the UNHRC. However, the Sri Lankan government has been defiant even after the UNHRC resolution, which has forced the US to propose a new procedural resolution at the upcoming 22nd session in March. The island has not only done precious little to address the recommendations of the last resolution, but it has also become more brazen in muzzling free speech and civil liberties, and
stripping down its constitutional and democratic institutions. The brazenness recently hit the nadir, when the countrys chief justice, Shirani Bandaranaika, was impeached for raising legal questions against the government. The free run of violent proxy-attacks against rights activists and journalists, including foreign nationals, and disappearances still continue. Last week, the UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay was brutally frank when she said that the Sri Lankan government was indulging in triumphalism in the north. She also said that the civilians of the north have been prevented from commemorating victims of the war. Reportedly, the graves of about 20,000 Tamil tiger fighters have been razed in the Vanni area where new museums and war memorials hailing the Sri Lankan soldiers have been erected. Navi Pillay has reportedly said that the triumphalist images will create a strong sense of alienation in the local population.
There have also been reports of military-tourism in the area to further the triumphalist sentiments, which effectively ridicule the suffering of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians who died at the hands of the countrys military. Macraes words are ominous for India: If there is no attempt to address these issues and to bring justice to those who suffered, the fear is that in the short term, political repression in Sri Lanka will increase and that in the long term, history is destined to repeat itself with yet more bloodshed and regional instability. If not for the respect for human rights and the demands of its own people in Tamil Nadu, India should take a stand for its own security. Strategically, it is certainly dangerous to have a rightsviolative dictatorship next door, which openly encourages the Chinese and the Pakistanis. India is likely to back a US resolution against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Commission on 7 March, reported CNN-IBN.
full of half truths, says Sri Lanka

PTI, Mar 6, 2013
Channel 4 documentary
Sri Lankan Army today dismissed as lies, half truths, rumours and numerous forms of speculation the pictures featured in the documentary. Commenting on the pictures, military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said, This is not the first time such unsubstantiated allegations are leveled against the Sri Lankan forces. Interestingly, these come up as we near UNHRC meeting and die down thereafter. No substantive evidence have been presented for us to launch an investigation he said. Unfortunately, it appears that the parties who float such baseless allegations never want these to be investigated or solved. They want to keep them as mysteries in order to tarnish the countrys good image as and when it suits their agendas.
olombo: A British channel has come out with a documentary featuring the pictures of the alleged cold-blooded killing of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakarans 12-yearold son, which was today dismissed by Sri Lanka as lies, half truths and numerous forms of speculation.
The Channel 4 documentary titled No War Zone the killing fields of Sri Lanka is to be aired in Geneva at the next session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March. The pictures have once again raised questions over the conduct of Sri Lankan armed forces during the final stages of the operation against Tamil Tiger rebels and is another blow for the government in its attempts to head off a critical resolution at the UN Human Rights Council. One of the photos shows Balachandran Prabakaran sitting in a bunker, alive and unharmed in the custody of Sri Lankan troops. Another picture which was taken a few hours later shows the boys body lying on the ground, his chest pierced by bullets.
Wanigasooriya stressed that if the Channel 4 was interested in having these investigated, it should cooperate with credible evidence and the Army will institute a probe. The documentary aims to test India over its next move in the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka, Channel 4s documentary director Callum Macrae said. India had voted against Sri Lanka at last years resolution. The new evidence in the film is certain to increase pressure on the Indian government not only to support a resolution on Sri Lanka and accountability, but also to ensure that it is robustly worded, and that it outlines an effective plan for international action to end impunity in Sri Lanka, Macrae said.
UNHRC must launch probe
into SL war crimes: HRW

IANS, Mar 6, 2013
uman Rights Watch on Wednesday urged the UN Human Rights Council to launch an independent, international investigation into war crimes committed in the final months of the Sri Lankan conflict.
ternational investigation into alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Human Rights Watch called on Council members to support a resolution that would establish an international investigation under the high commissioners office. India is likely to back a US resolution against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Commission on 7 March, reported CNN-IBN. Several independent bodies have reported credible allegations of war crimes and other serious rights abuses committed by government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the armed conflict that ended in 2009.
It said that since the Council adopted a resolution on Sri Lanka in March 2012, Colombo has taken no significant steps to provide justice for victims of abuse and accountability for those responsible. Over the past year the Sri Lankan government has alternated between threatening activists who seek justice and making small, cynical gestures to keep the international community at bay, it said in a letter to members of the Council. The Human Rights Council should dismiss these tactics, end the delays and authorize an independent, international investigation into the estimated 40,000 civilian deaths at the conflicts end. On 11 February, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a highly critical report on the Sri Lankan governments failure to provide justice and accountability. It also urged an independent and credible in-
However, the government has taken no significant steps to undertake impartial and credible investigations of these alleged violations, said Human Rights Watch. It said the Sri Lankan authorities had not reported any criminal prosecutions for serious rights abuses committed during the final years of the conflict. Indeed, thus far impunity for these abuses has been total. Most disturbingly, an army court of inquiry set up by the government to look into these allegations issued a report Feb 15, fully exonerating the army from any liability for civilian casualties. On top of the governments failings on justice and accountability, the human rights situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated since the March 2012 Human Rights Council session, Human Rights Watch said.
time for action is now!

There is something terribly wrong here: the whole world says with evidence that Sri Lanka has killed thousands of innocent Tamil civilians and committed war crimes; but the island nation laughs them off saying it is a concerted effort to discredit the country.
G Pramod Kumar Mar 6, 2013 here is something terribly wrong here: the whole world says with evidence that Sri Lanka has killed thousands of innocent Tamil civilians and committed war crimes; but the island nation laughs them off saying it is a concerted effort to discredit the country.
One more report nails Sri Lankas lies;
no civilian deaths. Initially the triumphalist Rajapakse gave some silly figures of unavoidable civilian casualties, but when the evidence was mounting, he marginally revised them. Still, they refuted everything the UN and the rest of the world have said. In Sri Lankas eyes, the entire world was lying and whatever it said alone was absolute truth. Now, there is more damning evidence against Sri Lanka. International watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), on Tuesday released a 140-page report which establishes that scores of women and men were sexually abused by the security forces of the Sri Lankan regime the military, police, intelligence and others during 2006-2012 and it is still continuing.
Forget America, the UK and the rest of Europe, it was the most neutral interlocutor that one can imagine, the UN, which said first that about 40,000 innocent Tamils had been killed in 2009 mostly by shelling to no-fire zones created by the Sri Lankan military itself as the country pushed for its victory against the LTTE. Rights groups all over the world recorded testimonies and case studies corroborating what the UN has said. Then came two documentaries by UKs Channel-4 which showed chilling evidence of shelling on civilians, executions, evidence of sexual abuse and everything that can be counted as war crimes. But Sri Lanka still maintained that there were
The report, aptly titled We Will Teach You a Lesson, talks about a vengeful and ultranationalist government taking on its own citizens purely based on racial prejudice and hatred. It corroborates the recent assessment of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees that sexual violence, including but not limited to rape, against Tamil men in detention has also been reported recently, including reports of cases perpetrated in the post-conflict period. The report is a compilation of 75 case studies of alleged rape, both men and women, based on in-depth interviews with victims conducted in several countries. HRW has said that it was able to interview this many people in such a limited number of former detainees strongly indicates
the possibility of widespread sexual abuse. Thousands of people had been detained during and after the war in Sri Lanka. The report said eight cases that it documented occurred in 2012, indicating the impunity with which the Sri Lank is still thumbing is nose at the international community. In all of the cases documented in this report, the acts of rape and sexual violence were accompanied by other forms of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by state security forces. The conditions in which the individuals were heldwithout access to judges, defense lawyers, relatives, or doctorsviolated fundamental due process rights. Often the perpetrators came from more than one branch of the security forces, and included members of the Sri Lankan army, police, and pro-government Tamil paramilitary groups, the report said. In the cases we investigated, most of the detainees were interrogated by Sinhala- speaking security officials with Tamil interpreters. Most were forced to sign a confession in Sinhala following their abuse, though the torture often continued after they signed confessions. Detainees were normally not released but rather allowed to escape after a relative paid a bribe. Human Rights Watch of necessity was only able to interview those no longer in custodythe fate of detainees who remain in custody, while unknown to us, is of urgent concern. Here is one of the accounts in the report the sexual abuse of a 31 year old man, identified as KP, who was abducted by a white van (one of the state symbols of terror in Sri Lanka). Its pure horror. During the first interrogation, the official in military fatigues forced me to undress. He tried to have oral sex with me. He forced himself on me and raped me. During questioning, the officials would squeeze my penis. They would force me to masturbate them. One of them masturbated me. I was severely tortured when I resisted. The officials would furiously say some words in Sinhala when they sexually abused me. I couldnt understand what they were saying. They abused me in Tamil and used slang
words. I was sexually abused many times during my detention. On some days, the army official who had arrested me sexually abused me during interrogation. On two nights, I was raped by prison guards. The sexual abuse by the officials stopped after I signed the confession. The report also quoted detainees who said prior to their rapes, they were forced to strip, their genitals or breasts groped, and they were verbally abused and mocked. HRW said it found evidence of such violation on many of their medical reports. A number cases involved people who had returned to Sri Lanka, either as deportees with failed attempts at overseas asylum or voluntarily, indicating that for Tamils, it is a dangerous place to return to even as the government claims peace and equality for all its citizens. They get picked up at the airport itself for detention and torture. Recently, an Australian citizen (male) also had disclosed after getting back to his country that he was detained and raped in Sri Lanka. The HRW report is one more addition to the mountain of evidence on alleged war crimes and other excesses against humanity that the Sri Lankan government and its various agencies have committed. The world will repeat what it has scientifically documented and Sri Lanka will continue to pooh pooh them with impunity. The timing of the HRW report, as well as the upcoming Channel 4 documentary (the third in a row) that will show the alleged execution of LTTE chief Prabhakarans son by security forces, is no secret. Its to build pressure on the rest of the world, particularly on fences-sitters such as India, to press for action against island nation at the UN Human Right Council. Even under optimum circumstances, the UNHRCs options are limited. It will at best ask for the implementations of LLRC (The Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission) that the country had established to investigate the allegations of war crime. Sri Lanka has successfully procrastinated any possible action of the LLRC by telling the world the bureaucratic steps it has taken to implement the recommendations.
What is required now is way beyond LLRC. The LLRC was a ruse of Sri Lanka to hoodwink the rest of the world show something symbolic and continue with its excesses. And even under best circumstances, a country-led process such as LLRC will be a complete sham because the country is plainly lying. The action should be plain and simple as Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has demanded economic sanctions and action at the International Court of Criminal Justice. Taking Rajapakse to the ICC is not easy because Sri Lanka is not a signatory. It requires a UN Security Council resolution to refer the case to
the ICC. With China and Russia on its side, the alleged war criminals in Sri Lanka are perhaps confident that such a resolution at the SC will never get through and they dont go behind bars. However, what can still work is economic sanctions. Its high time that the world has moved towards such an affirmative action. It is the minimum that the world, particularly India, should do to instill confidence in the rest of the worlds humanity. A rogue-nation such as Sri Lanka is as dangerous as a Talibanised Pakistan.
Watch video here:
on human rights violation

The Sri Lankan government decided to reject the final draft of a US resolution submitted at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and seek a vote among members, the external affairs ministry said on Wednesday.
IANS, Mar 20, 2013 olombo: The Sri Lankan government decided to reject the final draft of a US resolution submitted at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and seek a vote among members, the external affairs ministry said on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka rejects US resolution
The minister noted that the beneficiaries of such action would be none other than the divisive forces that seek to destabilize the hard won peace in the country. Moreover, he said the precedent created by intrusive, biased and politicized actions such as the US sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka would pose danger for all nations. Just as the government of Sri Lanka did not recognize the last HRC resolution, it rejects the new resolution. Sri Lanka seeks the understanding and the support of HRC member states at the vote on this resolution, the minister said in his letter. The US Monday tabled the final version of the resolution at the 22nd session of the UNHRC in Geneva, with co-sponsors including Austria, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway and Britain. In a toned down document as compared to the previous drafts, the resolution, among other points, requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to present an oral update on the progress in Sri Lanka at the 24th session of the Council.
In letters addressed to foreign ministers of UNHRC member countries, External Affairs Minister GL Peiris said Sri Lanka believes that drawing disproportionate attention to Sri Lankas situation and introducing resolution that seeks to discredit, single out the country are unhelpful and counterproductive to Sri Lankas current reconciliation process, reported Xinhua.
highlights the hypocrisy of nations

Negotiation rarely if ever has stopped the massacre of people by their own nation. And other nations simply dont want to intervene, unless theres oil. . . and even then, its usually long after theres no people left to save.
Tristan Stewart-Robertson, Mar 8, 2013
Why plight of Lankan Tamils
e can debate the policy of interventionism until were blue in the face well still screw up.
The former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Darfur, Sri Lanka, Syria they will go down as some of the worst humanitarian and hypocritical blindspots of history.
Theres no point pretending otherwise. The states with the most power generally avoid those nations either through racism, or through a desire to avoid a repeat of the colonial messes they created over the centuries. So its a bit rich hearing anyone, ANYONE, condemning Sri Lanka for not coming clean on the numerous allegations of the massacre of Tamils. Sure, there were people who spoke up around the world at the time, but nobody in a position of leadership. Nobody was going to take action against another state to prevent deaths. Even if India were one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and even if they led a vote in favour of action, so long as China and Russia have vetoes, nothing will happen. China will never authorise action, and I sometimes doubt if they would even act if North Korea dropped a nuclear weapon on South Korea.
Negotiation rarely if ever has stopped the massacre of people by their own nation. And other nations simply dont want to intervene, unless theres oil. . . and even then, its usually long after theres no people left to save. Iraq is a great example of letting Saddam Hussain kill a whole host of his own people, and only going in once it suited the US to create a lie for the benefit of obtaining natural resources. That was never about people. Some of the worlds inaction is dictated by the race and colour of skin of those in trouble.
As for China, they simply dont interfere (except for the hacking of foreign government computers, spying, alleged currency manipulation, etc etc). Syria is the current, ongoing humanitarian crisis and Britain is now sending some armoured personal carriers a somewhat desperate attempt to appear to be doing something, while actually doing nothing. There, we dont go in because were afraid of Syrias buddy, Iran. The lack of decisions in the face of massacres or the threat of massacres is as complex as the
causes for those deaths in the first place. Yes, races and hatred is the overwhelming root cause, but there are more nuanced individual actors who manipulate the situations, as is seen through many of the International Criminal Court prosecutions for genocide. Its too late to save the Tamils massacred by Sri Lanka (or allegedly, since Sri Lanka is clearly in denial). Maybe India could have done more. Well never know. What we can do, is improve the worlds ability to react and solve the internal problems of nations where they threaten civilian populations. We have systematically reduced support for UN peacekeeping so they lack the ability, the strength and the will to act.
And funding alone wouldnt solve the problem. Even before that, you would need to remove the veto power from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Then, youd need to restructure the council and either add more permanent members, or remove the concept of permanency entirely. None of this will happen. The UN was formed after the failure of its predecessor. We are witnessing the slow death of the UN in its current form, and a global agreement to overhaul it will only come after more conflict and more civilian death. India could certainly lead a charge to offer a new vision of international cooperation and intervention where necessary, but I wont hold my breath. Its easier to talk, then act, or lead.
Why India needs Jayalalithaa to take on Rajapaksa and SL

Even if it helps her politically, the countrys conscience needs Jayalalithaa to take on Rajapakse and his regime.
ven as India continues its refusal to take a stand against Sri Lanka for its alleged war crimes despite the recent images of Prabhakarans young sons alleged execution, the Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has taken the bull by its horns. Her decision not to allow the Sri Lankan athletes to set foot on Tamil Nadu becomes Indias veritable response to the islands regime.
people of Tamil Nadu and I condemn the centre for this. The context for her action then was the Centres insensitivity to the states demand that Sri Lankan military officials should not be trained in India. The Centre not only trained the officials in the country, but also sent a number of them to Tamil Nadu nine to Avadi near Chennai and two to Wellington near Ooty within a span of two months. The move was surreptitious and was without the consent of Tamil Nadu, when there was a groundswell of emotions against Sri Lanka for the killing of thousands of Tamil civilians, and other war crimes. When Jaya had raised the issue of the training with the Centre, it tried to obfuscate and play it down by answering her through a political lowweight such as Pallam Raju. Jaya had asked the Centre to keep the state informed when it had official visitors from Sri Lanka.
This is the second time, she is telling both Delhi and Colombo in unequivocal terms that if India continues to indulge in diplomatese, even after mounting evidence of Sri Lankas alleged war crimes against ethnic Tamils and the growing tide of international outcry, the state will not keep quiet and has every reason to tick them off. Last time when Jayalalithaa did something similar was in September when she didnt allow Sri Lankan students play a friendly football match in Chennai for which Delhi had granted permission. She not only packed the students off, but also told the Centre that the decision of the Indian government had humiliated the
Some observers see Jayas latest move as smartly political because that is the kind of outrage that the killing of Prabhakarans son has generated in the state. Unlike in the past, when the LTTE-led war for independence in Sri Lanka was only a marginal political issue, since 2009, the context and complexity have completely changed. The Channel 4 footage of the killing of innocent civilians and summary executions, successive UN reports that pointed fingers at the Rajapakse regime and its military, and the snowballing international opinion against Sri Lanka had made a fundamental change in the minds
of the people of the state. They dont equate Sri Lankan Tamils with LTTE, which the islands regime and its proxies are still trying to do, and hence have strong fraternal emotions. Sensing it early, Jayalalithaa had made it part of her political agenda in 2009 LS elections, which found considerable resonance with the electorate. When she assumed the chief ministers office in 2011, she also passed a resolution in the state assembly asking for economic sanctions against Sri Lanka and UN action against its president for war crimes. During the elections, she had maintained that Rajapakse should be tried as a war criminal. As soon as the images of Prabahkarans son became public, she said it was a war crime of grave nature and was unforgivable. All those guilty of war crimes should face the International Court of Justice, she said asking the Centre to work with the US and others at the UNHRC. Besides probably being a genuine supporter of the cause, Jaya knows that the conditions of the Tamils in Sri Lanka as well as the evidence of the countrys war crimes have enormous political value. Its very clear that she will certainly make it one of the issues for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Asking for a mandate for her to be a key-stakeholder of the government in Delhi will make tremendous sense in this context. The more intransigent and mulish Delhi becomes, the better for her. The man to lose out on this game will be Karunanidhi because he is in an unfortunate alliance with the Congress which is not only refusing to take any action, but also seems to side with Sri Lanka. Karunanidhi has been making all the right noises, by convening TESO, passing resolutions which his son hand-carried to the UN, and even by asking Delhi to do something. But, his hands are tied. If the Congress doesnt
do anything, he cannot walk out of the alliance. Politically he will be isolated and the corruption cases that his family and party members are involved will be jeopardised. His helplessness was visible even in his latest statement in which he said that he was pained by the Centres silence. What else can he do? Its total freedom from the national allies is what allows Jaya to be a lone warrior on the issue. And she has been playing it with consummate effect. Her steps are audacious and unyielding. In the latest episode, she not only made it clear that Sri Lankans are unwelcome to her state, but also added that she has no interest in the Asian Athletic meet if it involves the islanders. Karunanidhi, on the other hand, has been able to make only statements, stage fasts, and indulge in NGO-style soft policy advocacy initiatives because he is joined at the hips, at least for the time being, with the Congress. The DMK cannot wash away the blame that the alleged Tamil genocide and other war crimes in 2009 happened when it was cloistered with the Congress. Even when a team of MPs were scheduled to visit Sri Lanka later, it was Jayas AIADMK which seized the opportunity first to opt out. DMK followed suit, seemingly repeating its catch-up act. The issue will get hotter after the March UNHRC session where the US will move a new resolution against the island nation. India will be closely watched. Whether it makes a certain departure from its earlier stand of ambiguity and double-speak or not, Jaya will surely step up her offensive. Even if it helps her politically, the countrys conscience needs Jayalalithaa to take on Rajapakse and his regime. He should be made to realise that India is not just Delhi, and that it just cannot wash off the blood on its hands with lies and defiance.
Tamil Nadu fights for Lankan Tamils
Lanka vote: Revival of Tamil
chauvinism is ruinous
The hotheadedness of Tamil chauvinists has done the utmost damage to the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils over the decades. The worms that are even now crawling out of the woodworks of linguistic chauvinism should be swept aside.
Venky Vembu Mar 19, 2013
ike worms crawling out of the woodworks, linguistic chauvinists in Tamil Nadu are stepping out to hijack what started off as a protest against Sri Lankas failure to address human rights abuses against its own Tamil citizens. In the run-up to the upcoming vote at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, there have been a spate of reports of attacks on Sri Lankan tourists and businesses in Tamil Nadu. On Saturday, a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk was assaulted by members of a radical Tamil group-
ing at the famed Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur; the monk is an archaeology student with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and had travelled to the temple town in southern Tamil Nadu on a study tour along with other students (more details here). On Monday, another Sri Lankan Buddhist monk was assaulted as the train in which he was returning to Chennai, as part of a tour group that had been to Bodh Gaya on a pilgrimage, was pulling into Chennai. Three unidentified persons, who had been waiting for the train to
arrive, clambered on board, and assaulted him (details here). Likewise, the Madurai office of a low-cost airline that offers flight services to Sri Lanka has in recent days been ransacked. All this comes at time when the political temperature in Tamil Nadu is being ratcheted up in the lead-up to the UNHRC vote. Even mainstream political parties are whipping up Tamil chauvinistic sentiments ostensibly in the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils; fringe groups on the extreme have used the prevailing charged atmosphere to fish in troubled waters to advance their own political legitimacy. All this is self-defeating for the larger cause of Sri Lankan Tamils. Such attacks on Sri Lanka individuals and business interests in Tamil Nadu have the capacity to backfire on India, and compromise any leverage that Indian may have over the Sri Lankan government in getting it to abide by its commitments on devolving political power to the Sri Lankan Tamils in the islands north and east. At the political level, of course, the same linguistic chauvinism finds expression in the DMKs threat to pull out its Ministers from the UPA government if India did not work to introduce amendments incorporating harsher language critical of Sri Lanka in the US-led resolution at the UNHRC. The DMKs pressure tactic is of course fair political game at the broadest level, but the specifics of its demands are much less acceptable. The DMK, for instance, wants the killings of Sri Lankan Tamil civilians in the final days of the war against the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to be declared a genocide. The Sri Lanka government, which feeds off Sinhala chauvinism, has of course made its case worse for itself by its failure to address the genuine demands of Sri Lanka Tamils for devolution of political rights even four years after the LTTE was wiped out. Particularly in the light of recent sensational allegations of the circumstances in which LTTE leader V Prabhakarans son was killed evidently not in combat, as the Sri Lankan Army has claimed, but in cold blood and at point-blank range its steadfast
refusal to act on its own Commissions findings of human rights abuses and its denial of political autonomy to Sri Lanka Tamils has served to whip up political passions in Tamil Nadu. Yet, for all of the Sri Lankan governments perfidy over the decades, and the Indian governments responsibility to hold Colombo to account on its commitment to devolve political power to its Tamil citizens, the DMKs demand for the invocation of the word genocide is a silly proposition that will only recoil on the Indian government (if it takes it up, which it wont). As Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy and former diplomat G Parthasarathy (who has worked extensively on the Sri Lanka Tamil issue, right from the mid-1980s) noted in a CNN-IBN panel discussion on Monday, the DMKs political posturing over the UNHRC vote is meaningless. If you go around adding words like genocide, people will laugh at you, Parthasarathy said. Added Swamy: If India pushes for such things, India will be totally isolated. In his estimation, the Sri Lankan Tamils want devolution of power and they care a damn about this human rights resolution. In any case, notes Parthasarathy, the UNHRC resolution, even if it is adopted, is useless and will be forgotten in a week. The only UN agency that can take meaningful action against the Sri Lankan government is the UN Security Council, where China and Russia have a veto and will likely block any direct criticism of Sri Lanka. Which puts all this huffing and puffing within Tamil Nadu in the proper context. Even the shrill hectoring tone of DMK member of Parliament TM Selvaganapathy on the talkshow could not mask the DMKs political compulsions in so blatantly playing the Tamil chauvinist card. The real diplomacy that India can pursue, and which will benefit Sri Lankan Tamils, is to secure relief aid for them and nudge the Sri Lankan government into devolving power to the islands Tamils. And any leverage that the Indian government has in order to secure those policy objectives will be lost by Tamil hotheadedness which finds expression in the attacks on Sri Lankan individuals and business entities in Tamil Nadu.
The Sri Lankan issue is a very complex one, and there is plenty of blame to go around on all sides over the past 70 years or so. On the Sinhala chauvinist Sri Lankan governments part, it has failed to seize the opportunity provided by its military victory over the ruthless LTTE to foster a sense of reconciliation among the Tamil civilians, and has pointedly refused to address the charges of human rights abuses in the final days of that war. The Indian government too was driven by Tamil chauvinistic sentiments in the 1980s and shamefully supported the LTTE, which in turn decimated the moderate Tamil voice - and then assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Political parties in Tamil Nadu have repeatedly played politics and postured with the Sri Lankan Tamil iAnssue to advance
their interests without fundamentally helping the Sri Lankan Tamils. And fringe parties are staging guerilla attacks to muddy the waters to inhibit rational decision-making. Any decision that the UPA government may take on the UNHRC vote and there is a compelling case for it to vote against the Sri Lankan government as a pressure tactic must be made without the shrill voice of Tamil chauvinists jamming the radio signal. Their hotheadedness has done the utmost damage to the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils over the decades. The worms that are even now crawling out of the woodworks of linguistic chauvinism should be swept aside.
India must take historic stance on Lankan Tamils issue: Jaya

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today asked India to take historic and courageous steps to move amendments to the US-backed resolution at the UNHRC to assuage the deeply hurt sentiments of Tamils all over.
PTI, Mar 18, 2013
hennai: With emotions running high in Tamil Nadu over the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today asked India to take historic and courageous steps to move amendments to the USbacked resolution at the UNHRC to assuage the deeply hurt sentiments of people.
Quoting a report of the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tamils, she said there was a continued and sorry saga of human rights violations against them. She charged that the Rajapakse government was not keen on genuine reconciliation or even to allow the Sri Lankan Tamils to be rehabilitated, let alone start life as equal citizens in that country, which is reflected in the lack of adequate action even on a relatively mild UNHRC Resolution. At this juncture, the ongoing 22nd session of the Human Rights Council is the most appropriate forum and occasion to mount further pressure on Sri Lanka to ensure accountability is established under an international framework for the war crimes and genocide committed in the closing stages of the civil war and the ongoing gross human rights abuses,she said.
To assuage the legitimate sense of outrage and deeply hurt sentiments, it is absolutely important that India takes a strong stand in support of the US-sponsored resolution in the 22nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council and more importantly moves necessary independent amendments to further strengthen the resolution, she said. In her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Chief Minister recalled she had earlier twice taken up with him, including in person, the need for New Delhi to take up the issue of war crimes and slapping economic sanctions on Sri Lanka till Tamils were fully resettled.
India must take a strong, historic and courageous stance in this matter and not just support the US-sponsored Draft Resolution on Promoting Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka, but strengthen it further through suitable amendments that would make the resolution unambiguous in intent and effective in implementation, she said. Jayalalithaa made a series of suggestions including strengthening the language in the draft resolution. In PP9 (paragraph) strengthen the language from expression of concern to serious concern and dismay at the reports of the continuing
violations of human rights. In PP10 strengthen the language to condemnation of the failure of Sri Lankan Government to fulfill its public commitments including on devolution of political authority, she said. Further, there should be an unequivocal call for a credible, independent, international mechanism to prosecute genocide, war crimes and war criminals and the accused should stand trial before an International Court. This process should be completed within a period of six months and the outcome reported for a special discussion in the 25th session of UNHRC in 2014. In operative para 2 there should be an insistence that the OHCHR report be implemented in its totality, she demanded. Further, she pressed for a strong call to Colombo to accept an impartial, international institution to initiate credible and independent action to ensure justice, equity and accountability. This should include investigation of violation of international law and reconciliation of all Sri Lankans, including Tamils, and Colombo should
provide a pragmatic political package to Lankan Tamils and restore their equal rights of citizenship on par with the Sinhalese Community. On her insistence, India supported UNHRC resolution last year, one that called upon Lankan government to implement constructive recommendations of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) whose report she said was relatively mild. Jayalalithaa said she was dismayed over statements made by Singh and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid as they appear equivocal and prevaricating and do not give a clear indication of Indias stance, particularly with reference to genocide which has taken place in Sri Lanka. It was disappointing that India had maintained a deafening silence when the US-sponsored draft was taken up for discussion in the ongoing UNHRC session, she said, while expressing hope that India at this historic moment will champion the cause of democracy and take a bold stand to express solidarity with minority Tamils.
Swelling student agitations:

Why Lanka cannot ignore TN
The Sri Lankan establishment should feel terribly sorry for under-estimating the sentiments of Tamil Nadu. Its certain that whatever stand India chooses to take at the UNHRC, will be largely decided by the public and political opinion in Tamil Nadu.
ast year, Sri Lankan Ambassador to India Prasad Kariyawasam had ridiculed politicians in Tamil Nadu for their anti-Sri Lanka stance and said that they were being paid by the LTTE.
sorry for under-estimating the sentiments of Tamil Nadu. Its certain that whatever stand India chooses to take at the UNHRC, will be largely decided by the public and political opinion in Tamil Nadu. Going by what the union finance minister P Chidambaram has reportedly promised his party workers in the state, its not going to be good news for Sri Lanka. Unlike in the past, the alleged war crimes and killing of tens of thousands of Tamil citizens by the Sri Lankan military in the final phase of the war is now a huge emotional issue in the state. And it is not without basis. There is an incredible mountain of evidence in international media that directly holds Sri Lanka accountable for various war crimes. Not only the international media, but also the UN, various human rights organisations including groups from the island itself and the international community are quite firm in their resolve that the war crimes have to be accounted for. The country was given adequate time to at least begin the reparations, but it obviously wasnt serious at all. Instead of any credible action, it continued to ridicule and target its critics. Reportedly, the human rights violations (abductions, torture, disappearances etc) that Sri Lanka was notorious for, are still continuing. Its not just the US or the rights groups that want action against Sri Lanka. Even the OHCHR wants an international investigation against alleged war crimes and rights violations. And the movement in Tamil Nadu is swelling by
Kariyawasams dismissiveness reflected his governments position that it was hardly bothered about Tamil Nadu since its bilateral ties were with India, the country, and not with a state. With Delhi on its side, Sri Lanka thought Tamil Nadu was of no consequence. Not surprisingly, an Indian newspaper known to be close to the Sri Lankan establishment echoed the island nations sentiments when it said that Tamil Nadu should be kept out of Indias foreign policy on Sri Lanka. Meaning, India should take decisions that are good for its geopolitical interest as a whole. Unfortunately, both the Sri Lankan establishment and its proxies today should feel terribly
the day. If it had been confined to a few groups led by leaders such as Vaiko, Nedumaran, Thirumavalavan and Seeman in the past, now even the mainstream political parties want stern action. The most significant development, however, is the swelling agitation by students. What started as hunger strikes and street protests by a few colleges in Chennai is now spreading to other parts of the state such as Kancheepuram, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli. On Sunday, students of Chennai IIT also joined the movement. Perhaps no other part of the country has seen such a genuine students movement over a political issue in the recent past. Although the colleges are kept closed to keep things under control, it hasnt deterred students from coming on to the streets. A very interesting aspect of the students agitation in the state is the overwhelming involvement of students of professional courses, mainly engineering. Traditionally, they are the last to
join any public agitation, but this time, they seem to be dominating the movement. For instance, students of Chennai IIT oragnised a protest event on Sunday and also observed a fast. Today, students of Anna University, the top-ranking state-run technical university, are sitting on a fast. About 500 students from an engineering college are also on a hunger protest in suburban Ramavaram. What Kariyawasam and his government should realise is that in Federal India, ultimately its the aspirations of people that will prevail. With all its failings, India, unlike Sri Lanka, is a real democracy and the autonomy of its states is real. Sri Lanka can ignore Tamil Nadu, but India cannot. Its the states that make India and not the other way round. The same failure to understand this sense of cultural and political autonomy that makes India sparkle as a democracy is what led to the killings of several thousand people in Sri Lanka over the years. It should realise its folly and atone at least now.
fumes against Sri Lanka

The Indian Tamil film industry will put a stop to exports of Tamil movies to Sri Lanka if the UN doesnt charge Colombo with genocide of Tamils, a known filmmaker said Wednesday.
IANS, Mar 20, 2013
Tamil film industry
hennai: The Indian Tamil film industry will put a stop to exports of Tamil movies to Sri Lanka if the UN doesnt charge Colombo with genocide of Tamils, a known filmmaker said Wednesday.
mind breaking all ties with Sri Lanka, the president of the Film Employees Federation of South India told IANS. We will ensure no Tamil films are screened there, he added. India has said it will bring in amendments in a US-sponsored resolution at the UNHCR in Geneva denouncing Sri Lanka for rights abuses and more. On Tuesday, the Tamil film industry observed a day-long fast to protest the alleged killing of a large number of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan military in the war against the Tamil Tigers. Those who took part in the protest included Gautham Menon, S.J. Suryah, Aslam, Shankar, K.V. Anand, Vijay, Linguswamy, Prabhu Solomon, Balaji Sakthivel, Kinslin, Jayam Ravi, Srikanth, Karunas, Rajkiran, Suhasini, Manobala and Ponvannan.
Film directors SJ Surya and Mani Ratnam participate in the protest over the Lankan Tamils issue in Chennai, on Tuesday. Firstpost
If the union government does not take a favourable decision on this issue, then we dont
student protests against Lanka
BJP joins swelling Chennai
Students from across Chennai gathered at the Marina Beach on Thursday to protest against Sri Lanka. Firstpost
Protesting students hold up a photograph of V Prabhakaran's son Balachandran who was shot five times through the chest, two hours after eating a snack in a military bunker. Firstpost
BJP workers in Chennai burn effigies in protest of atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka. Firstpost
BJP workers during their protest on Wednesday. Firstpost
Committed to the cause of

Sri Lankan Tamils: Sonia Gandhi
We strongly stand for human rights of the people of Sri Lanka, Sonia Gandhi said at CPP meeting.
PTI Mar 19, 2013 s the DMK withdrew support from the Congress-led UPA government in protest against the governments position on a US-backed United Nations resolution on war crimes carried out during Sri Lankas civil war, Sonia Gandhi said during a CPP meet that the Congress stands for the human rights of the people of Sri Lanka.
We are fully committed to the cause of the Lankan Tamils and an impartial inquiry should happen into the allegations of atrocities against them, she added. She also said that she was most pained over the manner in which Sri Lankan Tamils continue to be denied their legitimate rights and that she is anguished over reports of unspeakable atrocities there. She also demanded a credible inquiry into the violation of human rights in Sri Lanka. The DMK has 18 seats in the Lok Sabha as part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs coalition, which already rules in a minority. Singhs Congress party can continue to govern with parliamentary support from two other regional parties
We strongly stand for human rights of the people of Sri Lanka, Sonia Gandhi said at CPP meeting.
The DMK pullout
Is it for real this time?

The only other reason for a politically wily Karunanidhi, if not to hedge against non-action by the Congress, is to cash in on a possible positive decision by the government.
Karunanidhis 11th hour drama:
o finally DMK chief has pulled out of the UPA government over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. Contrary to speculations, he is not interested in supporting the government even from outside.
On his own, Karunanidhi didnt say that he would restore his support if the Congress and the UPA accede to his demands. He said he would if the Congress mends its ways, in response to a question by a reporter.
A simple reading of this move indicates that the Congress seems uninterested in moving any amendment that will radicalise the second US resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. Perhaps the DMK leader has got enough hints that the UPA will support the resolution like last time, but might just stop with that. Under normal circumstances, it could have been alright, but given the overall unrelenting mood in the state and consistent political oneupmanship from the AIADMK, which has been
steadfast in its demand for declaring President Rajapaske as a war criminal, the DMK had to up the ante as well. What better way than jumping out of a sinking ship at the 11th hour? The only other reason for a politically wily Karunanidhi, if not to hedge against non-action by the Congress, is to cash in on a possible positive decision by the government. In such case, he can claim that it was because of his tough stand that the government changed its decision. But going by the history of the UPA, or rather the Congress, so far, it looks unlikely. Karunanidhis detractors will still question his intentions and sincerity because in the past he always let the situations pass, even when they were really grave, for the interests of his party and family. His exigencies, mainly the 2G case and the alleged involvement of his daughter Kanimozhi, still exist and some might say that this a pre-planned drama to score some political brownie points at a time when agitating students have completely trumped politicians. What is still interesting, however, is Finance Minister P Chidambarams assurance to Congress workers in Tamil Nadu last week. He had said there would be good news on the issue and even asked Congress workers to spread the word around. Firstpost reported on 17 March: My sentiments, your sentiments, and the sentiments of all Tamils is that if the resolution contains such a demand, India should support and vote in favour of it, he said, hoping there would be good news and people should wait till 22 March
(when the vote is to take place in UNHRC). There will be good news, good news. Maintain patience till then. I am confident and I am giving you this positive feeling, continue spreading this among all till 22 March, he had said. So, is this a joint ploy by the Congress and the DMK? In politics, one cannot rule out anything. To questions from reporters, Karunanidhi did say that he would withdraw his decision to pull out if the government accedes to his demands by Friday. Since he didnt say that voluntarily, one may conclude that perhaps the withdrawal is for real this time. There have been speculations that the DMK was constrained to find non-Congress allies for the coming elections because of the latters lukewarm response to the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. Unlike in the past, it will be the DMKs biggest political issue for the 2014 elections and joining hands with Congress. If the latter doesnt throw in its lot with the Tamils, it will be certainly suicidal for the DMK. For the DMK, there is still room for political maneuvering parties such as DMDK, the Left and pro-Tamil groups on the one side and the BJP and its allies on the other are still open for negotiations. Therefore, this is also a political move in preparation of 2014. A lead time of a year is perhaps good enough to wash its alliance-sins and reinvent itself as a pro-Tamil party. 2G is important, but political survival is absolutely unavoidable.
to unstable, minority govt

Key ally DMK has withdrew support to the UPA government on Tuesday, virtually reducing it to a minority government.
FP Staff Mar 19, 2013 ey ally DMK withdrew support (verbally at a press conference) to the UPA government on Tuesday, virtually reducing it to a minority government. They are yet to write to the President and the ministers resign, though Karunanidhi says that will happen over the next day or two.
DMK withdrawal: UPA reduced
on the already beleaguered UPA government that include passing a Parliamentary resolution on the genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils and having India intervene to make the US resolution against Sri Lanka more tightly worded. If the parliament passes a resolution ahead of the vote, we might change our stance, he said addressing a media conference in Chennai. Without the DMK, which has 18 MPs, the strength of the ruling alliance has fallen to 277 from 295. The UPA though has letters of outside support from the Samajwadi Party as well as the Bahujan Samaj Party which have 22 and 21 MPs respectively. Here are the numbers as they stand right now:
Speaking at a press conference, DMK Chief Karunanidhi announced that the DMK will pull out of the UPA over their stance on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. DMK continuing to support the Central government under these circumstances is impossible. Even if the LTTE is vanquished our support for the fight of Tamil freedom and human rights is not over, he added. The party will also not offer outside support and Karunanidhi has already set a list of demands
Total strength of House 540 Halfway mark 270 UPA with DMK 295 Without DMK 277 (With outside support from SP and BSP) The DMK pullout officially means that the UPA is now a minority government, which is inherently less stable. The sensex has also tanked 200 points after this statement.
Balance is tilting against UPA
after the DMK pullout

It is touch-and-go for the Congress if the DMK formally parts ways - as it has suggested it will.
Sanjay Singh Mar 19, 2013 parliamentary elections in September this year. That complicates matters for the Congress, since early polls means parliamentary elections will get mixed up with assembly elections to five states.
he Congress-led UPA-2 is facing another threat to its survival. After dithering for long, the DMK, with 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha and five ministers in the Union cabinet, finally indicated today that it is willing to pull the plug on the ruling coalition at the Centre. It comes exactly six months after another Congress ally, Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress, with 19 Lok Sabha MPs, had severed ties with the UPA.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the most articulate voice in the Manmohan Singh government, told the media that the UPA is fine even after the DMK announcement. There is no crisis. There is an ally who has withdrawn support. The government is stable and enjoys majority in Parliament. The appropriation bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha and is pending in the Rajya Sabha, but he did not comment on the fate of the Finance Bill. But the numbers as they stand in the Lok Sabha suggest that Chidambarams confidence may be a bit misplaced. Though DMK chief M Karunanidhi has not written to the President as yet conveying his decision to withdraw support, he told the media after an emergency meeting of his party executive that there was no point in continuing with the UPA government or giving it outside support as it was not sensitive to the demands for Sri Lankan Tamils. Though Karunanidhi has left a window open for a review of the decision in case the government moves amendments to the American-sponsored resolution at the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) by referring to the genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils and seeking an independent probe into human right violations there, this is unlikely to happen by 21 March, the day of the vote. In the alternative, Karunanidhi has called for a vote in our own Parliament to the same effect, but this would be even tougher for the Congress to accept since it would mean interfering in the affairs of a neighbour.
Though Mamatas withdrawal of support had reduced the Manmohan Singh government to a minority, the latter managed to survive due to the continuing support of other allies, the DMK in particular, and outside support from the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. But this time around the numbers are loaded against the Congress-led government and the Samajwadi Party is peeved with the Congress. The latest provocation is Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma, known for his proximity to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, calling Mulayam Singh names, and declaring him a benefactor of terrorists. Mulayam Singh had earlier told his party workers to prepare for
The formal letter to the President from the DMK, breaking off the nine-year-old relationship with the Congress, could come any time after the UNHRC vote. Sources said the DMK has already sought an appointment with the President. With 18 members of the DMK pulling out of the UPA, the numbers stack up like this: Congress 203, NCP 9, RLD 5 and others 16. That makes it 233, which is 39 less than the half-way mark. Congress sources claim that the number of others supporting the government is 22 and not 16. But even then the government is in a precarious situation and dependent completely on the whims of the Samajwadi Party with 22 MPs, BSP with 21, RJD with 3 and the JD(S) with 3. The government would fall if either of the two Uttar Pradesh-centric parties, SP or BSP, chooses to play truant. If they choose to support it, then they can surely drive a hard bargain with the UPA. To add to the UPAs troubles, the Samajwadi Party is already on the warpath against the Congress over the hugely insulting remarks made by Beni Prasad Verma against Mulayam Singh. The Samajwadi Party has so far been supporting
the government in name of protecting secularism and halting the onward march of the BJP, and Narendra Modi in particular. But that could be public posturing to keep its Muslim support base intact. The SP was also angry with the UPA over Congress President Sonia Gandhis open tilt towards Mayawati on quotas for SC/STs in promotions. The SP has been the only party to oppose it strongly. The Samajwadi Party is celebrating one year in power in Uttar Pradesh and has been claiming that it has already fulfilled its major poll promises by paying unemployment allowance to youth and giving laptops to students. It may like to maximise its numbers in the Lok Sabha before its honeymoon with its incremental support base starts withering away. Thankfully for the government, the ongoing budget session of Parliament will go into a month-long recess a day after the UN vote on Sri Lanka. But the gathering political storm may make life for the Congress in recess far too difficult to just sit pretty. It has its work cut out for it between now and Parliament reopens on 22 April.
What does the DMK want

from the UPA on Sri Lanka?
FP Politics Mar 19, 2013 position because of that. On Monday, a crucial meeting between DMK chief M Karunanidhi with P Chidambaram, AK Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad to discuss the stand to be taken by India over the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka ended with no major decision being taken. Karunanidhi demanded that parliament pass a resolution declaring that there was genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Speaking to reporters after meeting the three union ministers Karunanidhi said that he had told the three ministers that the attack on Lankan Tamils by Sri Lanka should be declared as genocide, adding that there should be a probe into the war crimes in Sri Lanka by a credible independent international body. Karunanidhi said a resolution containing the above should be passed in parliament. Meanwhile Stanley compared the situation in Tamil Nadu to the anti-Hindi movement of the 1960s. They are failing to understand the spirit of the people in Tamil Nadu, it is like they overlooked the anti-Hindi movement. We are just reflecting the popular sentiment, she said. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla told reporters that they had initiated the process of consultation for formulating a resolution as demanded by the DMK. We are consulting other parties If it has to be passed, is has to be passed only after consulting all parties, Shukla said. Sri Lanka is under attack over the death of a large number of Tamil civilians during the final stages of the war that crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. ours after it pulled out of the UPA government, the DMK said that it would reconsider its decision to quit the UPA if the government passed a resolution against Sri Lanka in parliament. There is a window for them. We will reconsider our stand if the government passes a resolution in parliament against the atrocities on Sri Lankan Tamils, DMP MP Vasanthi Stanley told reporters in New Delhi.
So, what does the DMK really want? The DMK wants the killings of Sri Lankan Tamil civilians in the final days of the war against the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to be declared a genocide. Our demand is that the Indian government should declare that there was genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka and war crimes were committed against them, DMKs spokesperson TKS Elangovan had told reporters. He said, Post-war, the Sri Lankan government has given some assurances to Indian government. The US resolution in the UN came only after that. We always wanted the Indian government to intervene and solve the issue. Agreeing that the Sri Lankan Tamil problem will be a major issue in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Elangovan said the party will not be in a disadvantageous
Lameduck UPAs survival

instincts have just got better
Despite the DMK pullout, the Congress is not about to lose power. A weak Centre gives the remaining allies greater clout.
R Jagannathan Mar 20, 2013 s allies start distancing themselves from the toxic embrace of the Congress-led UPA, analysts are raising questions about the survival chances of the ruling alliance till the scheduled May 2014 general elections.
Trinamool Congress and now DMK are deserting the sinking UPA ship. FDI in retail and the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils are just the excuses they needed to make their exit seem principled. Earlier, the Muslim party, MIM, left the UPA for brighter communal vote harvesting prospects. This leaves the UPA hanging by the apron strings of Mayawati and the pyjama buttons of Mulayam Singh. But this too is not the exact reality. Both are available for a price and the price for the former is the quotas in promotions bill, and for the latter, Muslim quotas in jobs. Both, Mayawati and Mulayam Singh, presume they are insulated from the Congress taint since they are outside supporters of the UPA and claim to back it only for the principled reason of keeping the communal BJP out. Either they think the electorate comprises only fools or they are deluding themselves about this. But as long as they think the electorate will buy this, they have no reason to ditch the UPA. But the principal determinant of the longevity of the UPA is not the allies, but the Congress itself. As long as the Congress thinks it cannot win the next election, it will stay in power longer than necessary, if needed by compromising with the devil himself (or herself?). Heres why we must give the Congress more than a 50:50 chance of surviving for the next six months at least, despite the DMK pullout. First, the DMKs pullout does not mean it will vote against the UPA in any trust vote. It is only making the Lankan Tamils issue a sticking point; it has a strong stake only in this posturing, not anything else. Take the 18 members of
It is the wrong question to ask: survival is easy if you are willing to compromise and sell the countrys long-term interests down the river. What is not easy is to survive with some principles intact. Contrary to assumptions, the UPA has not become a lameduck because the DMK is pulling out. It has been a lameduck since the second year of its second term in 2010. Since then it has been thrashing about for political purchase, but has never been able to find it. With hindsight the reasons are clear: as scams started erupting like pimples on a teenagers face, the Congress had been frightened into inaction. As the image of the alliance took a beating and governance collapsed, the allies took fright and started distancing themselves from the Congress. This is the real reason why
the DMK out of the Lok Sabha total, and the midway mark falls to 260. The Congress alliance has 233+ MPs. It only needs Mayawatis 21 or Mulayams 22 to reach within shouting distance of a win. Getting Nitish Kumars JD(U) or some other short-term ally is not unlikely on specific issues, including a trust vote. Second, cabinet clearance for the fiscally ruinous food security bill is a signal that from now on, the Congress will bring only ideas that no one can reject for seeming anti-poor. Muslim quotas will be next. The only tricky issue is reservations in promotions for SC/STs, which Maya wants and Mulayam doesnt; but is it inconceivable that if Mulayam gets what he wants, he will oppose some of what Maya wants? It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Congress can work out some kind of safeguards that will also mollify Mulayam Singh. Third, as this writer noted yesterday, only the Samajwadi party, Trinamool Congress and the AIADMK have some stake in an early election. This means the Congress can count on the broader, unstated consensus in this Lok Sabha to pull on for at least the next six months without precipitating an election. The BJP is not in a hurry to strike, nor are the Left parties or the remaining regional parties. Even Mulayam Singh is not sure if this is the right time to pull down the government. So, the Congress is on reasonably safe ground right now. Though, as we noted,
accidents cannot be ruled out. Fourth, the Congress is introducing poison pill legislation that no political party can oppose, but which will create problems for the next government. Apart from Food Security, there is the Land Acquisition Bill and the Homestead Bills, both of which have the potential to cripple the finances of the next government, not to speak douse the willingness of businessmen to invest. But these are bills no political party will oppose. All these are signals of a weak government planning to do further damage in the interests of staying in power. They show that the Congress is not confident of winning the next time, but is buying time in the hope that it will be saved by an unexpected good development. The moral of the story is this: Lameducks have a higher ability to survive than we think. It is strength that allies fear, not weakness. Strong leaders cant be bullied, but weak ones can. Moreover, when a strong ally leaves, the remaining allies grow stronger, as they can drive harder bargains. The TMC exit made Mayawati and Mulayam stronger; the same will happen as DMK leaves. Manmohan Singhs survival as PM for nine years is evidence that the meek shall inherit even if what they inherit is chaos. There is no reason why he cant survive another year.
he should have quit UPA earlier

Jayalalithaa accused Karunanidhi of covering up his earlier blunder when he failed to act when Colombo militarily crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
IANS, Mar 19, 2013
Jaya ridicules Karuna, says
hennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalaltihaa today ridiculed DMK leader M Karunanidhi for quitting the UPA, saying he should have done this in 2009 when the LTTE was crushed.
ing that a resolution against Sri Lanka be passed in Indian parliament. It is only in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) (that) amendments to the (US sponsored anti-Sri Lankan resolution) should be brought, she said. Jayalalithaa said action can be taken against the Sri Lankan government only if a strong resolution was passed at the UNHRC against Sri Lanka. According to her, Karunanidhi didnt act in 2009 when he was in power in Tamil Nadu and the DMK was part of the central government when the war was at its peak in Sri Lanka. She said Karunanidhi did not withdraw support to the central government or pulled out then. Ecohing her, CPI-M leader T.K. Rangarajan told IANS: After enjoying power at the centre for two terms, the DMK chief has announced withdrawal of support to show himself as the hero of Tamils. Rangarajan said Karunanidhis agenda was to face the next Lok Sabha polls.
She accused Karunanidhi of covering up his earlier blunder when he failed to act when Colombo militarily crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The plan of Karunanidhi will not succeed and the people of Tamil Nadu will teach him a lesson, she said. People are fed up with such dramas enacted by Karunanidhi. Jayalalithaa attacked Karunanidhi for demand-
The UN resolution
resolution against Lanka

The UN Human Rights Council today adopted a USsponsored resolution on human rights violation in Sri Lanka with 25 countries, including India, voting in favour of the document.
PTI, Mar 21, 2013 The watered down resolution also saw India pushing for new elements through written amendments calling for an independent and credible investigation into allegations of human rights violation and other accountability measures to be accepted by Sri Lanka, according to sources. During Intervention in the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Resolution on Promoting Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka, Indias permanent Representative Dilip Sinha said, We reiterate our call for an independent and credible investigation into
UNHRC adopts US-sponsored
eneva: The UN Human Rights Council today adopted a US-sponsored resolution on human rights violation in Sri Lanka with 25 countries, including India, voting in favour of the document in the 47-nation strong body. While 13 countries, including Pakistan, voted against, eight member-states abstained from voting on the contentious resolution that saw political tremors in India with DMK pulling out of the UPA alliance and the government. Gabon, a member-country had voting rights issue.
allegations of human rights violations and loss of civilian lives. We note with concern the inadequate progress by Sri Lanka in fulfilling its commitment to this Council in 2009. Further, we call on Sri Lanka to move forward on its public commitments, including on the devolution of political authority through full implementation of the 13th Amendment and building upon it, Sinha said. However, sources said when India pushed for the written amendments, the sponsors of the resolution said the attempt was to make it broadest-possible and with tougher amendments, the purpose will be defeated. Criticising the resolution, Sri Lanka at the UNHRC said, The resolution presented here today is clearly unacceptable to Sri Lanka. The government of Sri Lanka totally rejects the attempts by the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner and proponents of this resolution, the Sri Lankan representative said. He also said the resolution failed to recognise the progress made in the country in recent years, saying it is replete with misrepresentations on the situation in his country today. The resolution urged the government of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to address continuing reports of violations of human rights in the country, including threats to judicial independence and media intimidation. India said it believes that the report of the Lessons Learnt Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and its findings and recommendation provides a window of opportunity to forge a consensual way forward towards a lasting political settlement through genuine national reconciliation and the full enjoyment of human rights by all its citizens. India has always been of the view that the end of the conflict in Sri Lanka provided a unique opportunity to pursue a lasting political settlement, acceptable to all communities in Sri Lanka, including the Tamils, Sinha said. We call for effective and timely implementa-
tion of all the constructive recommendations contained in the LLRC report, including those pertaining to missing persons, detainees, disappearances and abductions, reduction of high security zones, return of private lands by the military and withdrawal of the security forces from the civilian domain in the Northern Province, he said. We reiterate our call for an independent and credible investigation into allegations of human rights violations and loss of civilian lives. We urge Sri Lanka to take forward measures to ensure accountability. We expect these measures to be to the satisfaction of the international community, the Indian Permanent Representative said. India pushed for seven written amendments in six paragraphs of the resolution. India also urged UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navaneetham Pillai to undertake a visit to Sri Lanka, which has invited her. We hope that the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and UN Special Procedures continue their engagement in accordance with their mandate, Sinha said. We encourage the Government of Sri Lanka to expedite the process of a broad-based, inclusive and meaningful reconciliation and political settlement that ensures that all communities live in dignity with equal rights and equal protection of the laws, he said. As a neighbour with thousands of years of relations with Sri Lanka, we cannot remain untouched by developments in that country and will continue to remain engaged in this matter, the Indian Permanent Representative said. Questioning the resolution, the Sri Lankan representative said, The Sri Lanka conflict ended three years and ten months ago. There are other ongoing conflicts and reported violations of rights as we speak in several parts of the world. Our concern is why this preoccupation with Sri Lanka? Why is this inordinate and disproportional level of interest in a country that has successfully ended 30 years of conflict against terrorism.
India supporting diluted US

resolution disappointing: DMK
DMK Parliamentary Party Leader TR Baalu told PTI that they had wanted India to propose amendments in order to declare that Sri Lanka had committed genocide, human rights violations and war crimes.
PTI, Mar 21, 2013
hennai: Expressing surprise over India supporting a weak and diluted US resolution against Sri Lanka at UNHRC, former UPA ally DMK today said New Delhi had by its action totally disappointed the entire Tamil diaspora. DMK Parliamentary Party Leader TR Baalu told PTI that they had wanted India to propose amendments in order to declare that Sri Lanka had committed genocide, human rights violations and war crimes. We (also) wanted to have amendments for in-
dependent, credible, international inquiry into war crimes and human rights violations committed by Sri Lanka. But to our surprise, government of India has simply supported a diluted and a weak resolution, he said. India had not even tried to propose any amendments to the US-backed resolution which was adopted by 25-13 margin with eight abstentions, he said. Government of India has totally disappointed not only the eight crore tamil population but the entire Tamil diaspora, Baalu added.
Has India watered down UN

The Amnesty called it a massive setback for the campaign for justice in Sri Lanka and a massive victory for Indian diplomacy and Sri Lanka since it significantly downgraded the international communitys concerns.
G Pramod Kumar Mar 19, 2013 he Indian government seems to have been successful in watering down the proposed second US resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. The revised US draft, which was tabled on Monday, is much softer and there is a lot of evidence to clearly show the imprint of Indian influence, said G Ananthapadmanabhan, Chief Executive of Amnesty International in India. There is a significant downgrading of the international communitys concerns regarding human rights violations in Sri Lanka, he said.
resolution against SL yet again?
Compared to the original draft, the demand for an international investigation has been given up and now the onus to set up a mechanism for investigation in on Sri Lanka. This is a significant departure from the international communitys tough stand on Sri Lanka ahead of the discussion on the resolution at the UNHRC session on 22 March. The Amnesty called it a massive setback for the campaign for justice in Sri Lanka and a massive victory for Indian diplomacy and Sri Lanka since it significantly downgraded the
international communitys concerns. The other changes that dilute the resolution are these: 1. Government of Sri Lanka has been replaced with each State thereby making it a general observation than being specific to Sri Lanka. 2. Three new paragraphs that support Sri Lanka have been inserted into the revised draft. 3. The new text welcomes the announcement by the Government of Sri Lanka to hold elections to the Provincial Council in the Northern Province in September 2013 4. New text also refers to rebuilding infrastructure in Northern Sri Lanka and how LLRC report can be the basis of national reconciliation. As Amnesty charges, the revisions certainly show the imprint of Indian influence and sets the tone for the rest of the draft. Encouraging Government of Sri Lanka to investigate the alleged crimes and rights abuses takes the sting out of the resolution. International community and the UNOHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights) had wanted an independent international investigation. Even the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay had raised this demand. This demand made its way into the original resolution. India, on the other hand, has maintained that such an investigation should come from within Sri Lanka itself. The revised draft reflects Indias position. Although in principle it might sound right, in the case of Sri Lanka, it amounts to colluding with a state that is accused of not only war crimes, but also reneging on its commitment to its citizens and international community. As recent reports by OHCHR and Human Rights Watch showed, instances of abductions, disappearances, rights-abuses and torture continued unabated in Sri Lanka even in 2012. Despite heaps of evidence of rights abuses and war crimes during the last four years, the country has done precious nothing to fix accountability. Giving it more time and the same responsibility that it misused time and time again is a
severe setback for rights activists and the international community. Karunanidhis withdrawal of support to the UPA looks certainly compelled by this development. Aligning with the Congress, which is doing the bidding for Sri Lanka, will be suicidal for any party in Tamil Nadu. He could have got wind of the Indian intervention this morning and perhaps that is why he hurriedly convened a press conference and announced his pull-out. It was India that reportedly diluted the text of the last resolution at UNHRC making the whole exercise inefficient. Since Sri Lanka has done nothing to honour even a non-biding resolution, the US decided to move a second resolution with tougher text. The original draft of this resolution was indeed stronger and would have been really bad for Sri Lanka. In the second resolution, the most significant and clearly the most worrisome for Sri Lanka was the call for an international investigation and what is called a truth-seeking mechanism suggested by the OHCHR. It also asked for unfettered access to special rapporteurs of the UN. Further, it supported OHCHR intervention in Sri Lanka. Both the call for investigation and the entire text on the access to rapporteurs have been deleted in the revised draft. Wherever there is a mention of international investigation, it has been meticulously deleted. Besides all this, it expressed concern at the ongoing violation of human rights, non-implementation of the LLRC recommendations. It even went a step ahead saying LLRC report did not adequately address the rights concerns. The revised draft will make the entire UNHRC process completely perfunctory, yet again. its indeed puzzling why and how the US agreed for such drastic revisions. Perhaps Indian diplomacy is much more influential than we all think. Compare the original resolution and the revised draft below. The changes in the revised draft are marked in Red. Firstpost obtained the revised draft from Amnesty International.
resolution on Sri Lanka
Government denies diluting US

IANS, Mar 20, 2013 amendments to the US resolution at the UNHRC and that the government was also talking to political parties over a resolution on Sri Lanka to be moved in Parliament. Chidambaram said Indias position was that the UNHRC should adopt a strong resolution to send a resolute message to Sri Lanka to accept an independent and credible investigation into charges of war crimes. Colombo has repeatedly denied killing Tamil civilians. Chidambaram said the government had on Tuesday finalised amendments to the draft resolution at Geneva. We will also continue to consult political parties on bringing a resolution to be adopted by Parliament, he said. The statement said Indias Permanent Representative to the UNHRC was in New Delhi for consultations. It denied media reports that India had worked with the US to dilute the text of the draft UNHRC resolution. Chidambaram, however, said the proposed resolution in Parliament was not linked to the withdrawal of support by the DMK. He reiterated that the government was stable despite the withdrawal of support by the DMK that has 18 members in Lok Sabha. Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the government had to be sensitive to the feelings of the people of a state. The reference was to the unending street protests in Tamil Nadu demanding that India should take a hard line vis-a-vis Sri Lanka.
ew Delhi: The government on Wednesday denied that it had diluted the US-sponsored resolution denouncing Sri Lanka over rights abuses at the UNHRC in Geneva. This is a canard. The (media) story is stoutly denied, said an official statement issued at a press conference addressed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi.
Indias position has always been and remains that the UNHRC should adopt a strong resolution that would send a resolute message to Sri Lanka and goad Sri Lanka to accept an independent and credible investigation, it said. DMK President M Karunanidhi said on Wednesday that his party quit the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the government after realising that India helped to dilute the US resolution. A vote is coming up at the 47-member UNHRC pulling up Sri Lanka for military excesses during the final stages of the war that vanquished the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Last year, India had played a similar role even as it voted against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. Chidambaram said India intends to move
Manmohan Singh briefed on

US-sponsored resolution on Lanka
PTI, Mar 20, 2013 come up for voting tomorrow at the 22nd Session of UNHRC at Geneva.
ew Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was today briefed by top officials on the US-sponsored resolution on human rights violations in Sri Lanka, within hours of government announcing that it will move amendments to the final draft text at Genevabased UNHRC to send a resolute message on the issue. Singh was apprised of the document in a meeting which was attended by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and Indias Permanent Representative at UN in Geneva Dilip Sinha. Stressing that India wanted the UN Human Rights Council to adopt a strong resolution on Sri Lanka, Chidambaram said India will move amendments to the draft to send a resolute message to that country on alleged human rights violations of Tamils and goad it to have an independent inquiry, a key demand of the DMK. The Finance Minister also dismissed allegations that India had sought dilution of the stronglyworded resolution by the US, saying it was an absolute canard. The amendments were finalised yesterday, he said, adding Sinha was in Delhi and he will be given suitable instructions to move the amendments at the UN meet. The resolution will
Indias position has always been and remains that the UNHRC should adopt a strong resolution that would send a resolute message to Sri Lanka and goad Sri Lanka to accept an independent and credible investigation, Chidambaram said. The final draft resolution has two major changes. The first being that the demand for an international independent probe into the allegations of rights violation in Sri Lanka was no longer part of the main text of the resolution. It is part of its preamble. The second deals with no unfretted access for a special rapporteur.
US resolution diluted because

India accepted Colombo report: DMK
Raising its pitch on the Lankan Tamils issue, DMK on Wednesday charged that the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at UNHRC was diluted on the basis of Indias wholehearted acceptance and appreciation of a report tabled by Colombo at the UN body.
PTI, Mar 20, 2013 hennai: Raising its pitch on the Lankan Tamils issue, DMK on Wednesday charged that the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at UNHRC was diluted on the basis of Indias wholehearted acceptance and appreciation of a report tabled by Colombo at the UN body.
He recalled his party had demanded that an amendment be made to declare that genocide and war crimes had been committed and inflicted on Eelam Tamils by the Sri Lankan Army and administrators and an independent international commission of investigation be established in a time bound manner, which should be adopted as a resolution in Parliament. Our request and desire is that this should also be moved in the UNHRC as part of the US resolution. But the demand for international investigation into war crimes is not mentioned in the resolution and instead it has been said that the Sri Lankan government should lead a probe In this way, the US resolution has been diluted to a large extent. The watering down has been done on the basis of India whole-heartedly accepting and appreciating a report tabled by the Lankan government at UNHRC, he said, adding rights body Amnesty International had also accused India of diluting the resolution. Further, DMKs suggested amendments were not considered fully and therefore at this juncture, the party had announced its stand of pulling out of UPA, he said.
DMK president M Karunanidhi said Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and reports in a section of media had implied that he (Karunanidhi) had confined his demand to just passing a resolution in Parliament incorporating amendments suggested to the US-backed resolution. This, he said, was condemnable.
at UNHRC: Sri Lanka

Foreign Secretary Karunatillaka Amunugama said that India was likely to take a decision at the very last minute when the final document is presented.
IANS, Mar 13, 2013 olombo: Sri Lanka Wednesday said it was hopeful of Indias support against a US-sponsored resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Hopeful of Indian backing
India earlier this month stated that it had not yet taken a stand on the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka and that New Delhi was carefully monitoring the developments in Geneva. The Sri Lankan government will Friday give its official response to the US resolution when Minister Mahinda Samarasingha addresses the council. Sri Lanka last week vehemently rejected the new resolution saying it was substantive, intrusive and political in nature. The government had appointed a committee to study and make recommendations on the draft resolution on Sri Lanka that has been tabled by the US in Geneva. Sri Lanka is facing widespread human rights abuses related to the war that crushed the Tamil Tigers in May 2009. Critics have accused the Sri Lankan military of killing a large number of Tamil civilians, an allegation Colombo denies.
Foreign Secretary Karunatillaka Amunugama told Xinhua that India was likely to take a decision at the very last minute when the final document is presented. Of course we will remain hopeful that India will back us. Even we are waiting to see what their response is, Amunugama said.
Scan or click to download our Android, iPad/ iPhone apps
iPad
Android
iPhone
Copyright 2011-12 Firstpost All rights reserved Copyright Network18. All rights reserved.

FirstpostEbook SriLanka 20130322072921

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

FirstpostEbook SriLanka 20130322072921

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

How Sri Lanka became

centre stage in India

The Sri Lanka problem

Tamil Nadu fights for Lankan Tamils

The DMK pullout

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

The Sri Lanka problem

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Why Tamil Nadu is right to call

Sri Lankas war a genocide

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Karunanidhi is wrong to reinvent Eelam war as genocide of Tamils

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Chilling new Channel 4 images:

Will India act at least now?

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

full of half truths, says Sri Lanka

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

UNHRC must launch probe

into SL war crimes: HRW

time for action is now!

One more report nails Sri Lankas lies;

Watch video here:

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

on human rights violation

Sri Lanka rejects US resolution

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

highlights the hypocrisy of nations

Why plight of Lankan Tamils

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Why India needs Jayalalithaa to take on Rajapaksa and SL

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Tamil Nadu fights for Lankan Tamils

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Lanka vote: Revival of Tamil

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

India must take historic stance on Lankan Tamils issue: Jaya

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Swelling student agitations:

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

fumes against Sri Lanka

Tamil film industry

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

student protests against Lanka

BJP joins swelling Chennai

BJP workers during their protest on Wednesday. Firstpost

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Committed to the cause of

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

The DMK pullout

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Is it for real this time?

Karunanidhis 11th hour drama:

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

to unstable, minority govt

DMK withdrawal: UPA reduced

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Balance is tilting against UPA

after the DMK pullout

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

What does the DMK want

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Lameduck UPAs survival