India erupts over Lanka

•  Congress loses key constituent ally; mulls parliamentary resolution and amendments to US resolution in Geneva
  
   

Sri Lanka’s case before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva caused major ripples in New Delhi yesterday after the Congress Party led ruling coalition in India lost a key ally and began mulling moving a resolution in the Indian Parliament against Colombo’s treatment of the Tamil people.

The move follows weeks of impassioned debate and protests that have rocked the Indian parliament since the commencement of the 22nd Session of the UNHRC in Geneva in February, where a second US led resolution was to be moved against Sri Lanka for a lack of progress on post-war reconciliation and accountability issues.

The Indian government is considering two major demands by a key constituent ally, after the Karunanidhi led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) quit the ruling coalition yesterday over Sri Lanka. The Tamil Nadu based political party says it will reconsider its decision if the Congress Government passes a resolution in the Indian Parliament against Sri Lanka and seeks to move amendments to toughen the US resolution against Colombo in Geneva ahead of its likely adoption on Thursday (21).

DMK chief M. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi has said her party pulled out of the Congress-led ruling coalition in protest against the government’s position on a United Nations resolution on war crimes in Sri Lanka because it “had no choice,” Indian media reported.  The US backed resolution, the Rajya Sabha MP said, had nothing of what the DMK wanted.  India’s NDTV quoted Indian Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath as saying that the Government was open to considering amendments to the US resolution. The Times of India also quoted sources as saying that the government was in the process of drafting a parliamentary resolution.

The Working Committee of the Congress Party sent a three-member delegation P. Chidambaram, A.K. Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad to Chennai on Monday (18) for talks with DMK representatives.

The DMK pullout comes as the Indian envoy to the UN in Geneva arrived in New Delhi for discussions yesterday, on the US backed resolution against Sri Lanka. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Dilip Sinha will brief the Indian government about negotiations and language of the US sponsored resolution during his visit.

Indian media reported that a final decision on whether India would vote in support of the resolution against Sri Lanka would be made after the final text was studied and Ambassador Sinha concludes his briefings in New Delhi.

Congress Party Leader Sonia Gandhi meanwhile yesterday denounced the “unspeakable atrocities” committed on Tamils in Sri Lanka and sought an independent and credible probe into rights abuses in the island’s north.

Speaking at a meeting of Congress MPs in Parliament House, Gandhi said she was anguished by the reports of unspeakable atrocities on innocent civilians and children, especially during the last days of the conflict in 2009, IANS reported.

“That is why we demand an independent and credible inquiry into the violation of human rights in Sri Lanka,” she added. (DB)