Editorial Geneva: A triumph for hypocrisy

So, mighty America has beaten little Lanka in Geneva! It secured 25 votes for its resolution as against Sri Lanka’s 13 with eight abstaining. The outcome of the vote came as no surprise; it had nothing to do with anyone’s concern for human rights. Some of those who voted for the resolution are the worst perpetrators of crimes against civilians. Sierra Leone is a case in point.

However, Sri Lanka has to come to terms with reality. It shouldn’t continue to drag its feet on the question of implementing LLRC (Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission) recommendations, if it wants to avoid further trouble internationally.

The LLRC has drawn heavy flak from some quarters for its report though the fact remains that but for it the blatantly lopsided Darusman report would have gone by default and been used by the western governments hostile to this country and the UNHRC as the basis for their resolutions. The LLRC has recommended what is possible, we reckon.

In voting against Sri Lanka, India has done what is good for the ruling UPA in a political imbroglio. In Geneva, yesterday, it reiterated its call for an independent and credible investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Sri Lanka. If not for pressure from Tamil Nadu and its western allies, India would not have suddenly woken up to human rights issues in Sri Lanka. What has really jolted it into action is the ruling UPA’s desperation to secure the DMK’s backing without which it is likely to collapse.

Ironically, it fully backed Sri Lanka’s war on terror during which crimes against civilians are alleged to have occurred. It was fully au fait with the situation in the Vanni—it had its personnel on non-military duty in the operational areas—and if there had been excesses on the part of the Sri Lankan military it should have made a direct intervention to stop the war at that juncture. 

 In 1987, while military operations were on against the LTTE, it air-dropped parippu and whisked away a beleaguered Prabhakaran in a military chopper purportedly on humanitarian grounds. Wouldn’t it have forced Sri Lanka to stop fighting during the closing stages of the Vanni war if civilians had been intentionally harmed?

The UPA government’s undertaking to move resolutions against Sri Lanka in the Indian parliament has struck a responsive chord with the Tamil Nadu politicians who are using the Sri Lankan issue as a Trojan horse to advance their own secessionist agenda, but other parties have refused to buy into its argument for such action. An all party conference it summoned on Wednesday to dip its toes became a flop with most parties faulting it for its ill-conceived move. Samajwadi Party leader, Rewati Raman Singh, has pointed out that having contemptuously rejected a resolution passed by the Pakistan parliament on Afzai Guru, India has no moral right to do the same in respect of Sri Lanka.

Leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj is reported to have asked why all parties had been called for the meeting to discuss an issue which strictly is between the Central government and DMK. These politicians have spoken for the discerning Indians.

The Congress-led UPA has manifestly failed to reconcile its domestic political compulsions with India’s strategic interests. It has already expressed concern over Sri Lanka’s growing ties with China. Worse, it has buckled under pressure from Tamil Nadu and allowed the DMK to dictate India’s foreign policy. Its vote for a country specific resolution at the UNHRC is widely seen as a diplomatic bêtise vis-à-vis India’s accountability issues in Kashmir as well as discrimination and violence against its ethnic and religious minorities.

Diplomatically speaking, two can play at that game.

Now that India has voted for the US resolution against Sri Lanka, Karunanidhi is likely to rejoin the UPA government propping it up and America will pat Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his back. But, India is sure to realise its folly sooner or later; it is digging itself into a hole.