India abstains on UNHRC resolution against war crimes in Sri Lanka

India today abstained from voting for a resolution against Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Commission which sought to initiate a probe into war crimes by the Sri Lankan government. A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs tweeted that unlike the resolutions in 2009, 2012 and 2013, this resolution imposes an international investigative mechanism due to which India would be abstaining. Unnamed government sources were quoted as saying by PTI that India was of the opinion that it was an intrusive approach that undermines national sovereignty and adopted an intrusive approach which is counterproductive. Sri Lanka was facing a third successive resolution tomorrow at the UN rights body which is calling for an international criminal probe into alleged war crimes committed during the country’s decades long civil war against the LTTE. [caption id=“attachment_1453801” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rajapaksa has opposed the international probe. Reuters[/caption] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay had recommended that the 47-nation Human Rights Council in Geneva authorise an investigation, saying Sri Lanka has made “little progress” toward ensuring accountability for alleged atrocities. The US-moved resolution is expected to compel Sri Lanka to cooperate with the UNHRC to set up an international probe into Sri Lanka’s alleged violations of human rights law. A popular Sinhala majority perception is that UNHRC does not mandate the rights chief to set up an international probe. with inputs from PTI