DMK insists on anti-Sri Lanka vote by India at the UNHRC
Submitted by Walter Jayawardhana
NEW DELHI: DMK has stepped up pressure on the Centre to vote against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The US is moving a motion against Sri Lanka on war crimes and rights violations against Tamil civilians during the final phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
“We have repeatedly insisted on it. We will continue to insist. We hope they will realise and act according to our feelings. Not only us, Tamils across the world are eagerly looking forward to see India’s decision,” said DMK chief M Karunanidhi.
On its part, the Centre is toeing a cautious line on the issue. Responding to demands from members in the Rajya Sabha for voting with the US resolution in the UN, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid had said that the government cannot foreclose its strategy at this juncture. “We cannot foreclose what point we make in the UN. If Sri Lanka is able to show there is movement forward, there will be one conclusion; if Sri Lanka is not able to show there is movement forward, there will be another conclusion,” Khurshid had said.
India had supported the US motion last year and this time the international body would review how much Sri Lanka has implemented recommendations of its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.
This comes at a time when new photographic evidences, released by the British media, suggest that LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran’s 12-year-old son Balachandran Prabhakaran could have been executed and that he may not have died in crossfire. In one photograph released by Britain’s Channel 4, the 12-year-old is seen eating a snack while sitting in a green sandbag bunker guarded by a soldier. A second image shows his bulletriddled bare-chested body. However, Sri Lanka has described these pictures as morphed. (Courtesy The Economic Times)
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It appears India is no longer a friend of Sri Lanka.
I read a piece of more shocking news today:
“China has refused a loan of US$500 million sought by the Sri Lankan Government to buy petroleum products and stressed that China would only approve only project loans, informed sources said yesterday
A Finance Ministry official said the loan which was being negotiated last year had not materialised because China was only prepared to grant project loans for which interest rates were relatively high.
China had become Sri Lanka’s biggest lender. The country had obtained US$3.1 billion in loans and export credit to Sri Lanka about 18 months ago. The government had obtained Chinese loans, at interest rates varying from 2.9 per cent to 8.25 per cent, for major development projects such as the building of the Hambantota Port, the Mattala Airport, the Moragahakanda Irrigation Scheme and the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant. Meanwhile the country’s total debt burden has increased to Rs.6,610 billion with 52 per cent of it being from domestic borrowings.”
What does this mean? Are we being forsaken by all?
Machang Padukka,
If there is no money to buy fuel, let us go back to the bullock cart. Environmentally friendly too.
Only those who visit Colombo night clubs in Lamboghini’s will suffer.