US will not table resolution without consulting India - Rajitha

CHAMIKARA WEERASINGHE

Whatever may, or may not happen as far as the US resolution to be brought against Sri Lanka at the ongoing United Nations Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva , the US will not table the final draft of the resolution without consulting India, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratna yesterday told the Daily News.

Asked if the government was expecting the Indian government’s influence on the US resolution to be in favour of Sri Lanka, Minister Senaratna said, ‘Whatever India’s stand will be, it is going to reflect India’s opposition to the LTTE and those trying to revive LTTE terrorism.’ “On the other hand, their stand on the resolution may reflect their domestic political compulsions vis a vis South India,” he explained.

Asked what triggered local speculation that India will act against Sri Lanka at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council sessions in

Geneva and that it will support the US resolution, Senaratna said, “Although some parties have expressed their views from a

negative perspective, about India’s support to Sri Lanka, they must look at the real picture of Indian politics with the central

government of India having to resolve a crisis in Southern India.”

“How can we say that India is acting against us and they are not our friends because India helped us defeat LTTE terrorism in the country,”he pointed out.

India also took steps to dilute the first US resolution when it was brought against the country at the previous Geneva Human Rights sessions, he explained.

“Things would have been worse for Sri Lanka had India not done that,” he said. Asked if he was positive about India’s support, Minister Senaratna said he is affirmative about India’s support to Sri Lanka as a long-standing friend of Sri Lanka. The Indian government has thus far refused to take a firm stand on the Geneva resolution, he stressed.