By Indrani Bagchi –
NEW DELHI: India joined 40 countries to condemn “sharply escalating” and widespread violations committed by government forces inSyria on Friday, a day after voting against Sri Lanka. India’s stand against Sri Lanka and Syria has come in for unqualified praise from human rights organizations.
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), a global human rights body, said India did the right thing and would be on the right side of history. “Sri Lanka has been in denial about war crimes. They are determined to stymie any investigation because culpability goes up very high,” Roth told TOI.
Referring to India’s vote on Syria both at the UN Security Council and the HRC in Geneva, he said, “India is becoming too influential to hide behind its traditional posture of neutrality. It has to take sides. India has played an important role at UNSC to forge a consensus to build pressure on Assad to stop the killing.”
Later, giving a talk at the Aspen Institute, Roth put India’s vote in context. “We have seen India taking strong human rights positions in South Africa, in Myanmar, and now Sri Lanka and Syria, as well as Tibetans.”
Commending India’s role in the UNSC, India’s abstentions in the global body are “unhelpful”. The importance of India’s presence and votes on human rights issues is also in the realm of what he calls the “battle of ideas”.
“China represents a model of development that dictators love. China has been very successful economically. But we think there are huge problems with the way China’s developing. There is a dark underside to the Chinese miracle. India represents a more accountable way of governance. India is an important model. As a vibrant democracy, India shows that concern for human rights is not a western construct.”
On Sri Lanka, Roth dismissed suggestions that the campaign against the Rajapakse government was fuelled by the Tamil diaspora, who supported the LTTE. “That is naive. We have done a study to show that LTTE used extortion on Tamil expatriates to get funds.”
But there were deep concerns about the Sri Lankan military, he said. “We are deeply concerned about abuses of Sri Lankan military. In the last stages of the war, the Sri Lankan army indiscriminately shelled the Tigers trapped on a beach. Along with them, 40000 civilians too were killed. Those are war crimes of a substantial nature,” he added.
coolie / March 24, 2012
ha ha ha ha ha ..vibrant democracy.. Just ask the People of OCCUPIED J&K and all north eastern sates.. Where the Indian Army acts Under Army Special Powers Acts58.. where Jawans have to this day raped and killed civilians. and to this day cannot be procescuted because of the ASP58.. Thats why there are open revolt by the Naxals.. This democracy where 95% of elected MPS have a Gross criminal background.. Ha ha ha .. these Indians LIke to dream of a Super power India.. Well simple description of India.. A rotted door fram.. one good kick and the entire structure will collapse.. So Dear Indian Writer.. IS it Influential Like that other Democracy the NEW LIBYA????? ha ha ha what a joke..
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coolie / March 24, 2012
HRW says…The New York-based international human rights organization, Human Rights Watch has appealed to India to revoke the draconian law, Armed Forces Special Powers Act, as it violated India’s obligations under international human rights laws
Human Rights Watch, Brad Adams said in a statement that the Indian army supported the Armed Forces Special Powers Act because of the immunity it provided to the soldiers who committed serious abuses. He maintained that India was bound to give people their right to life and protection from arbitrary arrests, torture and other forms of ill treatment
basic demand of the people of Kashmir is that the forcible occupation of Kashmir should end, without any delay. He pointed out that toeing the line of Israel in Palestine, India was changing the demography of occupied Kashmir and was setting up slums for nearly five lac non locals.
The AFSPA grants the armed forces the power to shoot to kill in law enforcement situations, to arrest without warrant, and to detain people without time limits. As a result, the armed forces routinely engage in torture and other ill-treatment during interrogation in army barracks. The law forbids prosecution of soldiers without approval from the central government, which is rarely granted
So now look what they are saying…. so HRW is non biased againt SL????
CLOWNS IN A CIRUCS WITOUT LIONS..
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Chandrani / March 25, 2012
It looks like it comes from the US. That whole load of influence India thinks it has – is that what you mean? It comes in the garb of upholders of human rights like HRW, ICG, Amnesty, etc.
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