March 15, 2012Sreeram Chaulia, Hindustan Times
The dog-eat-dog world rarely offers convergence between opposing goals of promoting human values and national interests. Usually, democratic States adopt illiberal policies that go against their own core beliefs, but which serve economic or strategic ends. However, the ruckus over the upcoming vote in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on a US-sponsored resolution seeking investigation of crimes committed in the final phases of Sri Lanka’s war presents a chance for India to mix morals with statecraft.
That the Lankan armed forces indulged in extreme violations of international laws in prosecuting the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a fact. Media revelations of brutal conduct by the Sri Lankan military are only the tip of the iceberg. I have witnessed the iron fist of Sinhalese chauvinism first-hand during my years as a civilian peacekeeper in eastern Sri Lanka. It has far too many unaccounted graves and disappearances.more »
