Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that he did not want lessons on human rights from outside, days after the UN Human Rights Council adopted a US-sponsored resolution censuring Colombo.
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.
India, which normally does not vote on nation-specific resolutions, made a last-minute departure in the current instance after overwhelming pressure from parties in Tamil Nadu, especially the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which had even considered pulling out its ministers from the government at the Centre, to vote against Sri Lanka.
Amidst mounting pressure from ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and other parties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said India was "inclined to" vote in favour of a resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN which meets "our objectives" with regard to the future of ethnic Tamils.
Sri Lanka on Monday said the global community cannot raise issues of rights violations against it unless guided by "political reasons," as a top United States official arrived in Colombo coinciding with the United Nations rights council meeting to discuss alleged war crimes during the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam conflict.
'The Israeli government is saying, "OK, leave northern Gaza, because we're going to fight Hamas there".' 'But Hamas is not stupid. They are going to put militants in southern Gaza too. And then what's Israel going to do?' 'At some point are they going to say, 'Leave southern Gaza too because we want to fight Hamas there? Go across the border to Egypt"'? 'That's what people are worried about. Because they fear that once they cross the border into Egypt there will be no coming back.'
If Sri Lanka continues to follow the path of evasion and tries to impose a dictated solution on the Tamils, India has to act tough, says B Raman
This is a question that is being debated not only in the UN Human Rights Council meeting at Geneva or Sri Lanka, but in India as well. This came about, typically the way Parliament responds to issues these days, after members from Tamil Nadu stalled the crucial pre-budget parliamentary session, says Colonel R Hariharan
In a tough message hours after the United Nations slapped 'biting' sanctions on the Libyan regime, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told a bellicose Muammar Gaddafi to leave the country and end his regime as soon as possible.
A United Nations human rights expert has claimed that gruesome footage from the final days of Sri Lanka's civil war is authentic and proves war crimes took place there.
The Times accessed confidential United Nations documents that record nearly 7000 civilian deaths in the no-fire zone up till the end of April. UN sources told the paper that the toll surged from this point onwards, and an average of 1000 civilians were killed each day till May 19, the day after the LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran himself was killed by the armed forces
The UNHRC agreed to defer the report on Sri Lanka's alleged human rights violations.
Pakistan has criticised India over alleged human rights violation in Kashmir and threatened to expose the country in the world over the "abysmal rights situation" in other parts if it continued to talk about Balochistan.
The United Nations has expressed regret that noted human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin will not be able to serve on an independent inquiry commission that will investigate possible human rights violations and war crimes committed, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
Elated after India's abstention at the UN Human Rights Council vote on Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday ordered the release of all Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan custody for poaching.
Both Khan and Modi are scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 27.
'We hope that the situation in Afghanistan does not pose a challenge to its neighbours and its territory is not used by terrorist groups'
India, which abstained during the vote on a strong resolution against Sri Lanka's human rights practices at the UNHRC, on Tuesday urged Colombo to fulfill its commitments on the devolution of political authority, to carry forward the process of reconciliation and address the aspirations of the Tamil community in the island nation.
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.
Silva's name was mentioned in the resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2013, alleging rights abuses by the Sri Lankan Army.
The UN on Friday called on Bangladesh to initiate steps for preventing violence against writers and activists, including providing physical protection to potential targets, in the wake of the killing of a secular blogger in the country.
"India not supporting it in UN shows you are homophobic and a biphobic. I demand the prime minister to break his silence to speak about an inclusive society. Any kind of fundamentalism and criminalism is unacceptable."
Scotland Yard's War Crimes Team, which is part of its Counter-Terrorism Command, has launched an investigation into the role of British mercenaries in fighting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in Sri Lanka during the 1980s.
Israeli troops backed by tanks and drones on Thursday continued to pound Gaza in its operation against Hamas, defying mounting calls for restraint and a United Nations vote to investigate the deadly offensive that has killed 720 Palestinians and 34 Israelis.
In a significant move coinciding with the visit of a top United States official probing war crimes, the American embassy in Colombo on Thursday posted pictures of places where civilians had died allegedly during Sri Lanka's final war against rebel Tamil Tigers four years ago.
India and Indians can ignore Pakistan, but that cannot be said of other nations in the neighbourhood, where New Delhi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy constantly reverberates. Four of the eight SAARC member-nations are Muslim -- Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The rulers decide the nation's India or anti-India policy in the first two, and street-opinion contributes to the same in the latter two, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
A country required two-thirds majority of 124 to win a seat in the elections.
The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO have expressed concern on the new law and warned of retaliatory measures.
Hitting out at the report, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in New Delhi that the update of the earlier OHCHR report is "merely a continuation of the earlier false and motivated narrative" on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
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.
Xi Jinping is winning the war without firing a shot in Sri Lanka, observes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
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India was among the 11 countries that abstained from voting on the resolution in the UN Economic and Social Council.
Days after India voted against it at the United Nations, Israel on Sunday hoped the Indian decision would not impact on the robust Indo-Israel ties in strategic areas of defence and security, to which they have added some more "ingredients" in the past few months.
President Xi Jinping today defended the one-party rule in China saying the "world will be too boring" if all countries followed the same political system, a day after the world commemorated 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
"They cry victim when they actually are the perpetrators," she said, rejected Pakistan's charges against India on the issue at the 42nd session of the UNHRC.
Skeletal remains of 80 bodies have been dug out of a mass grave in a former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam stronghold in Sri Lanka, fuelling speculation that the bodies are of Tamil civilians who disappeared during the war with the rebels.
The UN General Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution which calls for counter-terrorism measures, including the use of remotely-piloted aircraft or drones, to comply with international law.
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.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is conducting searches at the home of Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising -- who served as additional solicitor general during UPA 2 -- and the offices of Lawyers Collective, an NGO run by her husband lawyer Anand Grover, officials said.
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.
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