Harry Potter
BANNED
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2011
- Messages
- 600
- Reaction score
- 0
'Indo-Lanka ties cordial despite Indian shift over resolution'
Published: Wednesday, Mar 21, 2012, 21:51 IST | Updated: Wednesday, Mar 21, 2012, 22:40 IST
Place: COLOMBO | Agency: PTI
Sri Lanka's ties with India remains cordial as they have been at all times, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said here on Wednesdau, as he pointed to domestic political compulsions" for New Delhi's change of stance on a US-sponsored resolution on alleged rights abuses.
Rajapaksa, the powerful younger brother of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was responding to India's change of stance regarding the resolution sponsored by the US to censure Colombo for alleged human rights violations at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva.
Rajapaksa, who steered the government's victorious military campaign against the LTTE, said Sri Lanka had noted the change of Indian stance from opposing country specific resolutions to a stance of supporting the US move.
"We have to understand the domestic political compulsions for the Indian government," he said referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement in Lok Sabha that India was "inclined" to support the resolution.
The Congress-led UPA government is under huge pressure from its ally, the DMK, which has warned that it could withdraw its ministers from the cabinet if India either abstained or supported Sri Lanka during the vote on the US-sponsored resolution.
The resolution, which could be considered as early as Wednesday afternoon, has been dismissed by Sri Lanka.
Rajapaksa said a visit to Tamil Nadu by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton last year was a precursor to the American resolution against Sri Lanka.
He denied the accusations that government troops had deliberately targeted Tamil civilians in the no fire zones (NFZ) during the final stages of the ethnic conflict with the LTTE.
Western countries and international human rights groups have accused the Sri Lankan military of large-scale human rights violations during the war against the LTTE which ended with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in May 2009.
International rights groups have alleged that up to 40,000 civilians died in the final months of Sri Lanka's military campaign to crush the Tamil Tigers, who waged a bloody decades-long campaign for a separate homeland for minority Tamils.
"We did not create our own NFZs. We declared areas where civilians concentrated as NFZs. Because we knew that the LTTE would not allow civilians whom they used as human shields to arrive into areas defined by us as NFZs," Rajapaksa said.
He said the government had provided humanitarian assistance based on the information provided by the World Food Programme and other NGOs.
Hence, adequate supplies of food and medicine were readily despatched to areas then under LTTE control. On the danger of LTTE regrouping in the future, Rajapaksa said he was aware of the possibility.
He claimed around 4,000 LTTE cadres or those with links to the organization were still at large.
He warned that the pro-LTTE diaspora in the West would seek to establish links with them in order to re-group.
"Although the war has ended the threat from the LTTE has not completely died," the defence secretary stressed.
Rajapaksa's comments came on the eve of the UNHRC resolution tommorow in Geneva.
It aims to bind Sri Lanka to commit to expeditious implementation of its own reconciliation commission recommendations, including urging Colombo to probe alleged rights violations during its ethnic war.
According to UN estimates, some 100,000 people were killed during the ethnic conflict.
'Indo-Lanka ties cordial despite Indian shift over resolution' - India - DNA
Published: Wednesday, Mar 21, 2012, 21:51 IST | Updated: Wednesday, Mar 21, 2012, 22:40 IST
Place: COLOMBO | Agency: PTI
Sri Lanka's ties with India remains cordial as they have been at all times, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said here on Wednesdau, as he pointed to domestic political compulsions" for New Delhi's change of stance on a US-sponsored resolution on alleged rights abuses.
Rajapaksa, the powerful younger brother of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was responding to India's change of stance regarding the resolution sponsored by the US to censure Colombo for alleged human rights violations at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva.
Rajapaksa, who steered the government's victorious military campaign against the LTTE, said Sri Lanka had noted the change of Indian stance from opposing country specific resolutions to a stance of supporting the US move.
"We have to understand the domestic political compulsions for the Indian government," he said referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement in Lok Sabha that India was "inclined" to support the resolution.
The Congress-led UPA government is under huge pressure from its ally, the DMK, which has warned that it could withdraw its ministers from the cabinet if India either abstained or supported Sri Lanka during the vote on the US-sponsored resolution.
The resolution, which could be considered as early as Wednesday afternoon, has been dismissed by Sri Lanka.
Rajapaksa said a visit to Tamil Nadu by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton last year was a precursor to the American resolution against Sri Lanka.
He denied the accusations that government troops had deliberately targeted Tamil civilians in the no fire zones (NFZ) during the final stages of the ethnic conflict with the LTTE.
Western countries and international human rights groups have accused the Sri Lankan military of large-scale human rights violations during the war against the LTTE which ended with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in May 2009.
International rights groups have alleged that up to 40,000 civilians died in the final months of Sri Lanka's military campaign to crush the Tamil Tigers, who waged a bloody decades-long campaign for a separate homeland for minority Tamils.
"We did not create our own NFZs. We declared areas where civilians concentrated as NFZs. Because we knew that the LTTE would not allow civilians whom they used as human shields to arrive into areas defined by us as NFZs," Rajapaksa said.
He said the government had provided humanitarian assistance based on the information provided by the World Food Programme and other NGOs.
Hence, adequate supplies of food and medicine were readily despatched to areas then under LTTE control. On the danger of LTTE regrouping in the future, Rajapaksa said he was aware of the possibility.
He claimed around 4,000 LTTE cadres or those with links to the organization were still at large.
He warned that the pro-LTTE diaspora in the West would seek to establish links with them in order to re-group.
"Although the war has ended the threat from the LTTE has not completely died," the defence secretary stressed.
Rajapaksa's comments came on the eve of the UNHRC resolution tommorow in Geneva.
It aims to bind Sri Lanka to commit to expeditious implementation of its own reconciliation commission recommendations, including urging Colombo to probe alleged rights violations during its ethnic war.
According to UN estimates, some 100,000 people were killed during the ethnic conflict.
'Indo-Lanka ties cordial despite Indian shift over resolution' - India - DNA
