India should have supported resolution against Sri Lanka: Chidambaram
28 mar 2014Keywords: UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka, India abstention, P. Chidambaram, Sri Lanka war crimes, Sri Lankan Tamils issue, Eelam War IV
Differing with his government’s stand of abstaining
from voting in UNHRC on the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka,
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said New Delhi should have
supported it.
“It is my personal opinion. Twenty
three countries had supported it and we also should have supported even
if it was a watered down one,” he told reporters here.
The
decision could have been taken by officials in the External Affairs
Ministry, Mr. Chidambaram, who hails from Tamil Nadu where the ethnic
conflict involving minority Tamils in Sri Lanka has an emotional appeal,
said.
He pointed out that there was no consensus among political parties in the state over this issue.
On
Thursday, India had abstained from voting in the US-sponsored
resolution at UNHRC, saying it imposes an “intrusive approach” of
international investigative mechanism which was counter—productive,
apart from being “inconsistent and impractical.”
The
country had, however, voted against Sri Lanka, charged with alleged war
crimes during the peak of hostilities in 2009, in the previous years
amid clamour for its support by Tamil Nadu political parties, including
former UPA constituent DMK and ruling AIADMK.
On DMK
chief M. Karunanidhi’s statement that his party was ready to support
Congress if it proved its secular credentials, Chidambaram asserted his
party was indeed a secular party.
Mr. Chidambaram
welcomed Mr. Karunanidhi’s remarks, but said he was ‘amazed’ that the
DMK leader was questioning his party’s secular credentials as it had
never extended support to any communal party. “We have always been on
the secular side.”
“If he (Karunanidhi) comes, we welcome him,” he said supporting a Congress-DMK tie up.
He, however, declined to predict who would win the April 24 Lok Sabha
polls as there was a five-cornered contest which, he said, could throw
up many surprises.
No comments:
Post a Comment