Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary said that India has assured support in the UN Human Rights Council

India has assured Sri Lanka its support in the United Nations Human Rights Council, Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Jayanath Katez said, just days before member states voted on a new resolution on the island nation’s rights record.

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs in India told Hindu No decision on the vote has yet been “expressed”, while Mr Sahkari said that Sri Lanka is “the position of India,” they are superpowers. “

State runner Daily News A recent “digital dialogue” organized by Sri Lanka’s Media Center for National Development on Thursday reported the comment of a local Ministry of External Affairs official, a month-old initiative aimed at making the government’s efforts at the local and international levels public .

Controversial Case

Sessions of the Human Rights Council in Geneva usually invite sharp reactions from nationalist forces within the Sinhalese Buddhist majority of Sri Lanka, who see the process as a “target” and “interference in sovereignty” to their country. The Rajapaksa government, whose main support comes from Sinhala Buddhist nationalists, “categorically rejected” the UN Human Rights chief’s latest report, while accusing the council of being “politically motivated”, even The United Kingdom, Canada was included as a ‘core group’. , Germany, Northern Macedonia, Malawi, and Montenegro form the table of new resolutions.

Meanwhile, Colombo has also been reaching out to member states during the past weeks, pitching Sri Lanka’s own version of the post-war realities that UN resolutions have to address. President Gotabaiya Rajapaksa wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking support for the 47-member council, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, among other leaders, where the Colombo hostile resolution is feared. Mr. Rajapaksa spoke to Mr. Modi over the telephone last week, allegedly on a previously sent letter. China has officially announced its support to Sri Lanka.

All eyes are on India’s vote, not only because of its “influence” in the Council, but also because of its own tensions with Colombo following the Rajapaksa government’s recent decisions on strategic projects involving India and China. Given India’s pressing geopolitical concerns and support for Tamil aspirations in the island nation, it remains to be seen how New Delhi will go to the polls on March 22.

The only official intervention by India on Sri Lanka so far in the ongoing 46th session of the Council in Geneva was the statement of India’s Permanent Representative Ambassador Mani Pandey, who spoke of resting on two pillars of support for India’s “consistent position” was. A “lasting commitment” to Sri Lankan unity and territorial integrity, and to Tamil aspirations for “equality, justice, peace and dignity”. For the full implementation of the 13th Amendment the PR stated, “These are not an option either”.

In addition to reminding Sri Lanka of its many pending commitments and failed promises to provide truth, justice and promote reconciliation, the latest resolution calls for a power deviation through the 13th Amendment.

Only four of Sri Lanka’s seven resolutions adopted by the Council since the end of the war in 2009 were contested and voted on. India voted for three people in 2009, 2012 and 2013, and closed in 2014. The three resolutions adopted since 2015 were Sri Lanka’s consent and co-sponsored, which eliminated the need for a vote.