UK attempts to woo India

The United Kingdom (UK) has made fresh attempts to secure India’s support for a critical resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

UK Minister of State Foreign Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Tariq Ahmad, who is currently in India, is believed to have raised the matter with the Indian Government, diplomatic sources told Daily Mirror last evening.

Among the high-level officials Tariq Ahmad met in India are Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla.

“Both sides discussed a wide range of issues mostly on relations between India and the UK and regional matters. The issue on Sri Lanka was expected to be discussed,” a diplomatic source said.

The UK on behalf of the Core Group on Sri Lanka has submitted a resolution on Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

A number of countries have already extended support for the resolution but the stand to be taken by India is seen as crucial.

India is expected to abstain from voting on the resolution, but the UK has urged India to vote for the document.

Just recently President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had spoken to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and it was believed he had urged India to vote against the resolution.

The revised draft text of the resolution tabled before the UNHRC last week, requests the Office of the High Commissioner to enhance its monitoring and reporting on the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka, including on progress in reconciliation and accountability, and to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its forty-eighth session, as well as a written update at its forty-ninth session, and a comprehensive report that includes further options for advancing accountability, at its fifty-first session, both to be discussed in the context of an interactive dialogue. (EASWARAN RUTNAM)