Chennai:
The Prime Minister's fragile coalition is under new pressure. Senior partner DMK has threatened to withdraw its five ministers this week from the cabinet unless India asks the UN's top human rights body to hold Sri Lanka accountable for "genocide." Later this month, the UN's top human rights body will vote on a resolution by the US which criticizes Sri Lanka for alleged human rights violations by its defence forces in the final phases of the civil war against the Tamil Tigers which ended in May 2009.
Here are 10 big developments in this story:
A trio of ministers - P Chidambaram, AK Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad - met the DMK chief M Karunanidhi this evening after which he said, "I have been assured that our demands will be met."
But sources indicate that a compromise was not brokered and the DMK has threatened to pull its ministers from the government.
The DMK says it's not enough for India to vote against Sri Lanka in Geneva on March 22. It wants India to add strongly-worded amendments to the US resolution, asking for an international probe that must be completed within a fixed period on the island's "genocide."
India has not yet seen the final format of the proposed resolution at the UN Human Rights Council against Sri Lanka, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday. The text of the resolution is expected to be finalised and circulated tonight.
Dilip Sinha, the permanent representative of India to the UN in Geneva, will arrive in Delhi tomorrow to brief the government on the US resolution.
More than 500 college students were arrested in Chennai today for attempting to march to the Governor's house to protest against Sri Lanka. IIT Chennai has joined the protests today.
The state government has ordered all arts and science colleges to remain closed to contain student demonstrations, an order that has proved ineffective.
The DMK's arch rival, J Jayalalithaa, who is chief minister of Tamil Nadu, has written to the Prime Minister today stating, "It is absolutely important that India takes a strong stand in support of the US-sponsored resolution at the 22nd session of the UNHRC and more importantly moves necessary independent amendments to further strengthen the resolution." (Full text of the letter)
Last month, Channel 4 from the UK released new photos which allegedly show the 12-year-old son of the chief of the rebel Tamil Tigers was shot in cold blood by the Sri Lankan army. Sri Lanka alleges that the photos are morphed.
Last year, India voted against Sri Lanka after the DMK threatened to quit the government. The resolution adopted then asked Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of an internal commission.
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