India should move its own SL resolution – Karunanidhi

Describing the draft resolution on war crimes in Sri Lanka tabled by the US, UK, Mauritius and Macedonia as ‘disappointing’, DMK leader M Karunanidhi on Wednesday urged the Union government to move a separate resolution seeking independent, international inquiry into alleged war crimes.

“Giving more time, even after five years, is unjust and it will help the island government to destroy the evidence for its war crimes,” he said in a statement here. Karunanidhi said the draft resolution tabled at the UNHRC had completely ignored critical parts of the report filed by United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navaneetham Pillay, and chose to give Sri Lanka more time to act on the issue. He also noted that the draft resolution had failed to include the term ‘genocide’ in respect of the Lankan Tamils killed during the final stages of the civil war.

“Two previous resolutions passed in the UNHRC have borne no fruit. The same way, this resolution too will be ignored by the Sri Lankan government and fail to give any benefit to Lankan Tamils. We thus urge the Indian government to introduce a resolution on its own,” said Karunanidhi. He added that such a resolution should aim to ensure an independent international inquiry into war crimes and human rights violation. (ENS)