Sri Lankan daily criticises India's UN vote

Colombo, March 23 (IANS) India may have managed to extricate itself from a domestic political imbroglio at Sri Lanka's expense, but that has "plunged" the country "into an unholy diplomatic and political mire", a leading daily here said Friday, a day after India voted against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council.

An editorial in The Island said that the diplomatic badger hunt in Geneva is over.

"The cornered badger bravely fought the mastiffs of neo-imperialism, savage in the fray, and went down fighting. It certainly was a defeat as good as victory," it said.

The US, the EU and India voted against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC, securing 24 votes for the US resolution, with 15 against and eight abstentions.

The US and its friends "should be ashamed" that they, in spite of their combined might, could muster only 24 votes, it said.

The editorial said: "The Indian government may have managed to extricate itself from a domestic political imbroglio at Sri Lanka's expense by compromising its much-vaunted foreign policy at the behest of the likes of (Tamil Nadu Chief Minister) Jayalalithaa, but it has, in so doing, plunged India into an unholy diplomatic and political mire."

"Now that it has sided with the US on a country specific resolution against Sri Lanka, other countries will want it to do likewise if and when similar situations arise at the UNHRC in the future," it added.

It went on to say that India has been "a loser in Geneva, though it helped the US win".

"The Tamil Nadu politicians failed to save (LTTE chief) Prabhakaran but since his demise, they have won all political battles against the centre so much so that even the Rajiv Gandhi killers could not be hanged in Tamil Nadu, where they committed that grave crime in April, 1991," it added.

The daily cautioned that the outcome of the Geneva vote and their strong ties with the US will "further embolden Jayalalithaa et al to adopt a more confrontational approach in dealing with the centre".

It further said that the US succeeded in carrying India in Geneva, but "India failed to carry Asia, or at least South Asia with it. In other words, Sri Lanka has won against India in Asia".

The editorial warned that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is "likely to step up its operations in Tamil Nadu, where a situation conducive to its activities exists with prominent politicians backing it to the hilt".

"It is hoped that India will not be hoist with its own petard--once again," it added.