Opposition leaders said India should speak for what is right and should not be afraid of its neighbour.
'Abstaining from the UN vote would not have sent a strong enough message to register the great concern India has about the plight of Palestinian civilians,' Michael Kugelman tells Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com
The United States-sponsored draft resolution before the ongoing session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission urges the Sri Lankan government to conduct an 'independent and credible' investigation into allegations of human rights violations. The draft resolution -- a copy of which has been obtained by PTI -- has not ceded to demands of human rights bodies for an independent international investigation.
Sri Lanka has described the adoption of its periodic review of human rights at Geneva's United Nations Human Rights Commission sessions without a division as a victory and an acknowledgment of its rights progress.
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.
After the resignation of all Dravida Munetra Kazhagam ministers from the government, the party on Wednesday said pulling down the United Progressive Alliance dispensation by bringing no-trust motion in the house is not the issue, but welfare of Tamils is their focus.
India on Thursday continued to be evasive on its stand to be adopted on the resolution against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Commission, triggering an angry walk out in Lok Sabha by United Progressive Alliance constituent Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which was joined by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-United.
With India under pressure from Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu to support a United States-sponsored resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Commission against Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes, United Progressive Alliance's key constituent Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam on Saturday announced the convening of its high-level committee on March 20 to discuss the issue. Party chief M Karunanidhi will chair the meeting on Tuesday morning at its headquarters in Chennai.
With Tamil Nadu's Members of Parliament insisting that India make its stand clear on the United States-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka in United Nations Human Rights Commission, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said efforts are on to achieve a "forward-looking" outcome which would avoid "deepening confrontation and mistrust."
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Centre on Kargil hero Saurabh Kalia's father's plea to take up his son's torture case at International Court of Justice.
Shriomani Gurdwara Pharbandhak Committee president Avtar Singh Makkar said in Amritsar on Tuesday that die hard efforts will be applied to save the life of death row convict Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar.
United Sikhs, the advocacy group's lawyers on Monday filed the complaint before the United Nations Human Rights Commission on behalf of three Sikhs, who alleged that they were being denied the right to wear a turban, which is a basic feature of their religion.
'We are following the legal path then why have we been accused of being inhuman'
Pakistan's parliament has unanimously passed a resolution, condemning the alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.
Swamy's counsel said there was negligence on part of the Taloja prison authorities, who failed to provide immediate medical attention to the Jesuit priest.
India should observe October 22 as Kashmir Martyrs Day to pay tribute to those who lost their lives to Paakistan's State terrorism, suggests Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
'All these people want is a secure home where they can live and earn in peace.'
'Our policy is pro-Sri Lanka.' 'Burma is not the only girl on the beach in South Asia.''
'Despite Modi's high-flown rhetoric about good-neighbourly relationships in South Asia, he lacks a road map how to proceed -- be it with Bangladesh or with Sri Lanka and Pakistan... But a deeper question arises here: Did he duck on his own accord or under the diktat from the RSS, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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.
Hindu American Foundation: 'As an organisation that works on issues affecting Hindu minorities... in the civil war although all groups were affected, Hindu temples and Hindu institutions were disproportionately affected, and Hindus continue to be affected.' Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the United States Prasad Kariyawasam: 'Assume that Sri Lanka is referred to the ICC through the UN Security Council -- which will never happen because Sri Lanka has enough clout to block it. But assume it is. Still, the ICC cannot handle it because retrospectively they don't have jurisdiction.'
'To consider BRICS anything more than a temporary club with some common interests would be folly. The goal should be to induce others (Japan, ASEAN, South Africa) to align with us -- a non-threatening, democratic nation, rather than with malevolent China or waning America. For us to consider aligning with either China or the US would be absurd. India is just too big to be a sidekick,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.