Tamil Nadu shuts down colleges to prevent student protests against Sri Lanka
The government has asked arts and science colleges in Tamil Nadu to be closed immediately till further orders as student organisations across the state gear up to organise massive protests from Monday.
The students are demanding that India vote against Sri Lanka on a resolution expected to be moved at a meeting of the United Nation's Human Rights Council in Geneva this month.
The US is expected to move the motion against Sri Lanka on war crimes and rights violations against Tamil civilians during the final phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. All political parties in Tamil Nadu have been pressuring the Indian government to vote against Lanka.
The students are demanding that India vote against Sri Lanka on a resolution expected to be moved at a meeting of the United Nation's Human Rights Council in Geneva this month.
The US is expected to move the motion against Sri Lanka on war crimes and rights violations against Tamil civilians during the final phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. All political parties in Tamil Nadu have been pressuring the Indian government to vote against Lanka.
Though students have joined in the demand, their protests so far have been unorganised, with mostly law students holding hunger strikes or demonstrations. More students are expected to join in from Monday.
The emotive Sri Lankan Tamils issue was resurrected recently when British media released photographs that suggest that the 12-year-old-son of Prabhakaran, the chief of the rebel Tamil Tigers, was executed in cold blood by Sri Lankan forces in 2009. Colombo says the photos are morphed.
In the Indian Parliament, the DMK, which is a partner in the UPA government, has made both poignant appeals and threats to demand that India show its support for Tamils in Sri Lanka. It has asked the government to make its stand clear, something that it is yet to do.
The Congress-led UPA government had voted against Sri Lanka in another resolution last year following pressure from the DMK, which had then threatened to pull out of the coalition at the Centre.
The emotive Sri Lankan Tamils issue was resurrected recently when British media released photographs that suggest that the 12-year-old-son of Prabhakaran, the chief of the rebel Tamil Tigers, was executed in cold blood by Sri Lankan forces in 2009. Colombo says the photos are morphed.
In the Indian Parliament, the DMK, which is a partner in the UPA government, has made both poignant appeals and threats to demand that India show its support for Tamils in Sri Lanka. It has asked the government to make its stand clear, something that it is yet to do.
The Congress-led UPA government had voted against Sri Lanka in another resolution last year following pressure from the DMK, which had then threatened to pull out of the coalition at the Centre.
India may tilt against Sri Lanka at Geneva
New Delhi, March 15, 2013 (IANS)
Despite Sri Lanka's hopes, India is likely to back the US-sponsored resolution at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva against Colombo - if there is a vote.But this decision will not be influenced by the anger in Tamil Nadu against the killing of large numbers of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan military in the war against the Tamil Tigers. New Delhi is convinced that while rehabilitation of the war displaced is taking place in the island's northeast in some measure, Sri Lanka does not seem to be sincere vis-à-vis national reconciliation.
In any case, the situation at the ongoing UN meet in Geneva is different from last year when also the US piloted a resolution pulling up Sri Lanka for rights abuses and more.
In a move that shook Sri Lanka, India broke ranks with the rest of South Asia and voted for the US resolution that got passed despite hectic lobbying by Colombo.
The 47-member UNHRC membership is rotational. Russia, Cuba and China, which were among Colombo's backers last year, are no more in the Council.
Last year, after Sri Lanka's refusal to deal with Washington, India engaged with US diplomats and toned down the resolution, deleting references to its intrusive aspects.
Like many developing countries, India remains sensitive to Western moves that could be construed as interference in a country's sovereign affairs. This time, Pakistan and some like-minded countries are said to be talking to US diplomats, apparently on behalf of Sri Lanka.
Despite strident demands from political players in Tamil Nadu, the Congress-led central government has not revealed how it will vote this year. One reason is that the US resolution is subject to amendments, and India will wait to see its final shape.
Second, there is a possibility that the resolution may be adopted by consensus, in which case it will be futile for India to reveal its cards - at this point.
Colombo seems to have realized that the dice is more heavily loaded against it at Geneva now compared to 2012.
The dominant view in New Delhi is that the Sri Lankan leadership has badly bungled after crushing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The feeling is that President Mahinda Rajapaksa, knowing that many Tamil civilians did die in the final stages of war, could have offered a public regret and announced adequate financial compensation.
This would have reduced the ill feeling among many Tamils, more so because many were caught in the horrendous conflict between Colombo and the LTTE against their wishes.
Instead, Sri Lanka took a bizarre stand - and has stuck to it - that no civilian was killed in the military blitzkrieg against the LTTE and that the Tigers were to blame for all civilian deaths. Colombo has also dragged its feet on the issue of national reconciliation, refusing to engage in an earnest dialogue with the Tamil National Alliance, the biggest Tamil political grouping in parliament.
This has prevented Sri Lanka from taking bold steps to bring about a national reconciliation that would help heal the wounds of a conflict that left tens of thousands dead over a quarter century.
Sri Lanka has also gone back on the promises it made to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on political steps it would take once the LTTE became history.
For these reasons, if there is a vote in Geneva, India may do a repeat of last year, say those in the know here.
