Chennai, Mar 24 (IANS): The Opposition DMK and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(MDMK) have come out strongly against the Centre for abstaining from voting in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on a resolution on alleged human rights violations by Sri Lanka.
DMK president M.K. Stalin said that the Centre has betrayed the interests of Sri Lankan Tamils. While speaking to the media persons at Chennai, the DMK leader said, "The government is indirectly helping the Sri Lankan government by boycotting the resolution in UNHRC".
The MDMK was more critical against the Centre, and its general secretary Vaiko who has always been a supporter for the Eelam cause, said the Indian government had not voted against the resolution because of elections in Tamil Nadu.
Vaiko while speaking to IANS said, "The Indian government has totally betrayed the Sri Lankan Tamils. If there was no election in Tamil Nadu, our government would have voted against the resolution and in support of Lanka and I do strongly condemn the Indian government action in the UNHRC".
He further said, "You should understand that it was not a fight between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil diaspora and it was definitely not a civil war, it was total genocide. 1.37 lakh Tamils were brutally murdered by the Sri Lankan forces and their residences were bombed and Tamils were even starved to death. Nobody supported the Tamil cause and the Government of India has turned its back on the Tamil community."
The Government of India was walking the tightrope in the UNHRC and was caught in the midst of an Assembly election between the Tamil community and to maintain international relations with Sri Lanka.
The resolution was to fix war crime responsibilities and human rights violations by Sri Lanka. The resolution, promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka at the 46th session of the UNHRC was adopted with 22 out of the 47 voting in favour and 11 including China, Pakistan, Russia and Bangladesh voting against it. 14 other countries, including India and Nepal voted against this.
It may be recalled that India had voted in favour of similar resolutions in 2012 and 2013.