New Delhi:
The Prime Minister today said that whether India votes against Sri Lanka when the top human rights body of the UN meets this month in Geneva will depend on the wording of the resolution that the United States plans to introduce.
Dr Manmohan Singh is under pressure from his ally, the DMK, to support the resolution which will focus on alleged war crimes by Sri Lankan defence forces as they defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels after a lengthy civil war.
Last month, new photos released by UK's Channel 4 suggested that the 12-year-old son of V Prabhakaran, the head of the Tamil Tigers, had been executed in cold blood. The Sri Lankan government has said the photos are morphed. They will feature in a documentary that will screen in Geneva during the session of the UN Human Rights Council.
All political parties in Tamil Nadu reacted strongly to the photos. DMK chief M Karunanidhi said they confirm President Rajapaksa is a war criminal.
India voted against Sri Lanka at last year's session in Geneva after the DMK threatened to quit the Prime Minister's coalition. That resolution, also sponsored by the US, asked Sri Lanka to assign accountability for massive human rights violations in 2009 in the final months of the war, and implement the findings of an internal inquiry into the war.
The Sri Lankan forces have been accused of killing thousands of minority Tamils.