Chennai: India should take a “strong stand” against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meet in Geneva, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said Monday.
She urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a letter that India should also move an independent resolution to strengthen the earlier US resolution.
“To assuage the legitimate sense of outrage and deeply hurt sentiments (of Tamils), it is absolutely important that India takes a strong stand in support of the US-sponsored resolution at the 22nd session of the UNHRC and more importantly moves necessary independent amendments to further strengthen the resolution,” she said.
Jayalalithaaa said Tamils in Tamil Nadu and around the world were outraged and incensed “over the impunity with which the Sri Lankan government is ignoring international sentiments and binding resolutions relating to reconciliation and accountability for the war crimes and genocide committed in the closing stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka and the ongoing gross human rights abuses”.
Expressing her dismay at the statements made by Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and terming these as equivocal and prevaricating, Jayalalithaa said they do not give a clear indication of India’s stance, particularly with reference to “the genocide which has taken place in Sri Lanka resulting in enormous loss of innocent, civilian lives and gross violation of human rights”.
“It was disappointing that India had maintained a deafening silence when the US sponsored draft was taken up for discussion in the on-going UNHRC session,” she said.
“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 added. (IANS)