China on Thursday firmly backed Sri Lanka against the US-sponsored resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council on alleged war crimes, saying it is against any country putting pressure on others in the name of rights violations.
The United States has welcomed the passage of United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka and said that it sends a "clear message" to the Rajapaksa government that the international community is committed to promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asian country.
The United States has welcomed the passage of a resolution on Sri Lanka sponsored by it at the United Nations Human Rights Commission, saying the vote sent a clear signal to Colombo that the international community is committed to promote peace and stability in the country.
Sri Lanka on Monday made it clear that it will not abide by the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution that censured it over its human rights record and said it would only implement "feasible" recommendations of its own panel that probed the three-decade-long bloody civil war.
India along with BRICS countries on Wednesday voted in support of a UN Human Rights Council resolution to launch a probe into Israel's offensive on Gaza. India joined Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa to vote for a Palestinian-drafted resolution on "Ensuring Respect for international law in The Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jersusalem".
Differing with his government's stand of abstaining from voting in UNHRC on the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said New Delhi should have supported it.
Brushing aside opposition from the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and other parties in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa but did not give him any assurance on which way India will vote on a the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution for an independent international probe into rights abuses during the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Taking to Twitter, United Nations Human Right Council said, 'At its 35th special session, the @UN Human Rights Council decided to create a new fact-finding mission to investigate alleged #HumanRightsViolations in the Islamic Republic of #Iran related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022.'
Iran's Attorney General Mohammad Javad Montazeri said that the morality police 'was abolished by the same authorities who installed it', The New York Times reported.
Companies such as Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, TVS Motor Company, Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki, for whom Sri Lanka is a key export destination, are experiencing a significant slowdown in demand following the import duty hikes, which have made their vehicles very expensive in the island nation.
Sri Lanka on Thursday blamed strategic alliances and domestic political issues, an apparent reference to politics in Tamil Nadu, for the UNHRC resolution that was backed by India to censure Colombo for its alleged war crimes during the ethnic conflict with the Liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday adopted a resolution against Sri Lanka's rights record, in a setback to Colombo, which made determined efforts to garner international support ahead of the voting.
The Sri Lankan police have arrested two rights activists under an anti-terrorism law to prevent them from spreading "communal disharmony" in the country's war-torn northern region, ahead of voting on a resolution against the country at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has debunked international criticism over the treatment of the island nation's Tamil minority population.
Abstaining from voting on a UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka was dictated as much by necessity and self-preservation as by a desire to place bilateralism at the front and centre of New Delhi's ties with Colombo, says Ramesh Ramachandran.
Colombo seems to be veering to the middle path between China and the US on global matters, but in regional matters of strategic security, it is increasingly identifying with India, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The UNHRC agreed to defer the report on Sri Lanka's alleged human rights violations.
Interestingly, in his entire remarks, Modi never once mentioned regional security, Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar points out.
Though dubbed as the 'war hero', the role of Rajapaksa in ending the conflict with the LTTE with the death of its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2009 is quite divisive as he stands accused of violating human rights, a charge he vehemently denies.
In a goodwill gesture, Pakistan freed 59 Indian fishermen of the eve of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to India to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi.
In the 2009 election, P Chindambaram the Sivaganga seat by a narrow margin. Then the Congress was in alliance with the ruling DMK. This time his son Karti is battling the seat with the alliance. India abstention at the UNHRC on an anti-Lanka resolution will further fuel Tamil anger against the Congress party. This leaves the finance minster sulking and his son facing an uphill political debut, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the circumstances, an independent probe alone would establish the truth, starting from Koodangulam. It is more so in the case of Marina violence, which may even at this late hour hold a candle to the events and developments in Thoothukudi, says N Sathiya Moorthy.