India votes against Lanka

The UPA government played out a farce at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), whereby India moved seven amendments to a US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka, and all of which were duly rejected by the US. In the end, India voted in favour of the final draft resolution that had been watered down, largely due to New Delhi’s own efforts.
Pakistan voted against the resolution. Supporting Sri Lanka, the Pakistani envoy said they sympathized with Colombo which had “faced terrorism, funded and armed from abroad”. It was a thinly-veiled attack on India, which frequently accuses Pakistan of cross-border terrorism.
On Wednesday, as the government struggled to keep the DMK back and save the UPA, it ordered MEA to move seven amendments against Lanka along with the US and other sponsors. This came out of a meeting between the PM, foreign minister Salman Khurshid, finance minister P Chidambaram, national security adviser (NSA) Shivshankar Menon, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai and India’s permanent representative to the UN, Dilip Sinha. These amendments were tough enough to have ensured a serious downturn in Indo-Lanka ties.
These written amendments were rejected by the US and other sponsors, on the ground that a tighter resolution would reduce the number of supporters for the resolution. Incidentally, the initial draft took a tough line. It needed a lot of quiet negotiations by India to be watered down. For India to attempt to amend the resolution yet again is a new low in foreign policy.
Not content with the US rejection, the government then ordered that India move an oral amendment at the UNHRC on Thursday morning. On Wednesday night, Opposition parties had refused to accede to a government move to pass a parliamentary resolution against Lanka. That reduced the need for an oral amendment, particularly since India risked getting isolated in the Council. In the end, India voted for the resolution that had been revised only a couple of days earlier. The resolution went through with 25 votes in favour (one more than last year), 13 against, eight abstentions and Gabon, which was absent.
In a swift reaction, the Lankan government announced that it would take back some of the tanks from IndianOil Corporation’s strategic reserve facility in Trincomalee. Lankan information minister Keheliya Rambukwella on Thursday announced plans to retake unutilized tanks from Lanka IOC.
Through its actions on Thursday, India risked close ties with a next-door neighbour, and may have pushed Colombo further into the arms of China.