India's vote in support of the resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC has invited sharp criticism from some readers. Many have suggested that India's strategic interests have suffered. For long, the Rajapaksa government has been playing the China card to ward off India. It was time we called the bluff.
Some readers have called the human rights tragedy an internal affair of Sri Lanka. Let alone the well-researched and credible documentary aired by Channel 4, I invite the readers to familiarise themselves with the U.N.'s Panel of Experts report submitted to the U.N. Secretary-General. Sri Lanka is a signatory to several international human rights treaties, and is legally obliged to uphold them in letter and spirit.
Some other readers have said the UPA government succumbed to the pressure brought on it by the political parties of Tamil Nadu. The remark is unfair. In fact, a vote in favour of Sri Lanka would have created a fertile ground for chauvinism in Tamil Nadu. If we do not stand up as a nation for the rights of our stock anywhere in the world, who will? I am reminded of John Donne's famous sermon from the Devotions: “No man is an island ... therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee!”
Louis Jude Selvadoray,Chennai
