Domestic politics forced India to commit a foreign affairs blunder by voting against Sri lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council. There will be consequences which can hurt India
Curiously, or perhaps not, the raucous anti-Sri lanka protests in Tamil Nadu have disappeared from newspapers and news channels ever since last Thursday’s vote at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. As expected, the US-sponsored, Europe-backed resolution criticising Sri lanka for its conduct of the war on the liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam, ironically acknowledged as a terrorist organisation by the Americans and Europeans, and calling for an “independent credible investigation” into what is now described as ‘war crimes’, was able to muster majority support in the 47-member UN body. In a near repeat of voting on a similar US-sponsored resolution last year, 25 countries voted in favour and 13 against the resolution this year; eight countries abstained. As in 2012, this year too India voted for the resolution, thereby voting against Sri lanka.
It would be absurd to suggest that the US sponsored the resolution against Sri lanka and others voted for it because of profound concern over the violation of human rights by the Sri lankan Army, or that high moral values and commitment to ethics even in wartime propelled the castigation of a sovereign nation by a UN forum which is known for being wondrously toothless and devoid of powers to enforce its decisions. A country whose drone attacks on foreign soil have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, including women and children, and whose military adventures have caused immeasurable bloodshed and untold misery around the world, does not have the moral authority to sponsor a resolution condemning human rights violations in another country. Nor can India claim to have voted in support of the resolution because it deeply believes that is the right thing to do.
The absurdity is further underscored by the real reasons behind India’s duplicitous decision to vote against Sri lanka: The Congress forced the UPA Government to go along with the resolution to appease its now estranged ally, the DMK. The Congress was desperately hoping that by making a show of moving amendments to the resolution to make it tougher and harsher, by voting against Sri lanka, and by hustling Parliament into adopting a parallel resolution it would succeed in seducing the DMK back into the UPA fold. That was not to be — predictably, the amendments were rejected, thankfully the BJP and the left forced the Congress to drop its despicable and dangerous plan for an all-party Parliament resolution that would have been an affront to the sensitivities of a sovereign nation and forever remained a blot on this nation, and M Karunanidhi remains in high dudgeon for reasons that have little or nothing to do with the plight of Tamils in Sri lanka.
Frankly, neither the US nor India has achieved anything by pushing the envelope against Sri lanka. Others who voted in support of the resolution are irrelevant in today’s world where sanctimonious posturing rightly raises no more than a titter here and a snigger there. Sri lanka is not persuaded, and President Mahinda Rajapaksa has made this abundantly clear on Friday, by busybodies who are given to poking their noses into other people’s affairs. It is unlikely that Colombo will now exert itself to meet the standards set by the UNHRC or even bother with an ‘independent credible investigation’. Sri lanka will not be alone in thumbing its nose at an agenda-driven and politically motivated Human Rights Council. Tiny Israel has not bothered about this UN body’s bogus decisions either. Nations, especially those that have had to overcome or constantly face multiple challenges to their very existence, cannot allow their destiny to be shaped by the self-proclaimed good and virtuous, namely the US and Europe, who believe it is their burden to civilise unruly natives on foreign shores.
But while the US will not suffer the direct consequences of seeking to punish Sri lanka, India will. Colombo has already declared its plan to take back oil tanks from Indian Oil Corporation that were allotted in Trincomalee to create a strategic stock. Over the next months we are likely to witness a cooling of interest in and demand for Indian goods and services. Simultaneously, we shall also witness Colombo turning towards Beijing and China not letting down strategically important Sri lanka. What would we do thenIJ Issue threatsIJ Vote in favour of other resolutionsIJ In case the Congress and the UPA are under the impression that arm-twisting Sri lanka is going to work, they should think again. The days of India doing the brown sahib act in Sri lanka are long over; it would be downright stupid to believe that we can repeat what was done by Rajiv Gandhi, and before him by his mother, to Sri lanka.
Which brings me back to where I began. The sudden eruption of orchestrated protests in Tamil Nadu against Sri lanka, its majority Buddhist population, its President and its Government seem to have died since Thursday afternoon. Are we to believe that these so-called well-wishers of Tamils in Sri lanka see Thursday’s resolution as an end in itselfIJ That the issues of Tamil disquiet and disaffection in Sri lanka have been addressed and dealt withIJ That there is no need for a sustained effort to persuade Colombo into abandoning its chosen path and stepping forth in a new directionIJ For a lot more remains to be done by Colombo for Sri lanka to reap the peace dividend: Holding elections to Provincial councils, institutionalising the 13th Amendment; withdrawing the military from Tamil areas and empowering all citizens through justice and accountability. These are not extraordinary measures but things that should have happened by now haven’t. This is where India could have made a tremendous contribution to putting the past behind us and building a new future — for Sri lanka, for India, and for Tamils across the Palk Bay. Sadly, Colombo has failed to move swiftly, so has New Delhi. It is a reflection of where we stand as a nation that we count for nothing in Sri lanka, that we could not talk Colombo into doing what would only be right for that country. After Thursday, we will count for even lesser.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi)