Welcoming India's vote in favour of the US-sponsored resolution before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa regretted that it had been “very indecisive on this very sensitive issue, which is an inherent emotive issue for Tamils all over the world”.
In statement, she said that the Tamil Nadu Assembly had passed a resolution in June last year, urging the Government of India to work with the members of the United Nations in bringing to book the persons who had perpetrated war crimes against the Tamils in Sri Lanka during the ethnic conflict in 2009.
The resolution had also urged the Government of India to work with other nations for imposing economic embargo on Sri Lanka till the Tamils are given rights on a par with Sinhalese and are resettled in these homes with respect and dignity.
“Though the Government of India had not acted on this resolution of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, thanks to the resolution brought by the United States of America in the 19 session of the UNHRC, it was forced to take a stand on this issue”.
She regretted that the India had been “ambivalent” on this and Sri Lanka almost succeeded in persuading India to defeat this resolution. “I had written to the Prime Minister of India twice on this issue, urging him to back the resolution moved by the US and vote against Sri Lanka.”
Ms. Jayalalithaa said External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna had stated in Parliament that India was seeking an outcome based on reconciliation and accountability rather than deepening confrontation and mistrust. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had merely said in both Houses of Parliament that the government did not have the final text of the resolution and that India was inclined to vote in favour of a resolution that he hoped would advance the objective, namely, the achievement of a future for the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, that is marked by equality, dignity, justice and self-respect.
Ms.Jayalalithaa said AIADMK MPs, who were not satisfied with the response of the Prime Minister on this issue, wanted him to state in “unambiguous terms” the stand of the Government of India. “I had also issued a statement questioning the dubious and ambivalent stand of the Government of India on this issue.”
Citing media reports that Mr. Krishna had told his Sri Lankan counterpart that India had not yet taken a stand, she said, “Amidst all this confusion and procrastination, it is heartening to note that the Government of India has finally voted in favour of the resolution moved by the USA.”
She said the constant pressure she had brought to bear on the Centre in the form of an Assembly resolution, letters, to the PM and the vociferous demand by AIADMK MPs had yielded the desired result. She described as the first step in ensuring that justice is done to the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
