India explains why it voted against Sri Lanka at UNHRC

India, explaining its stance at the United Nations Human Rights Council to vote for the United States sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka, said as a "neighbour with thousands of years of cordial relations with Sri Lanka, with deep rooted spiritual and cultural ties," it is bound by a "shared quest for freedom and dignity" and cannot remain untouched by developments in Sri Lanka.
A statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs of India emphasized that the primary responsibility for the promotion and protection of human rights lies with Sri Lanka and consequently, resolution should fully respect the sovereign rights of Sri Lanka and contribute to its own efforts in this regard.
India highlighted that while supporting the objectives of the resolution, it has also insisted that any assistance from the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights or visits of UN Special Procedures should be in consultation with and with the concurrence of the Sri Lankan Government.
"A democratic country like Sri Lanka has to be provided time and space to achieve the objectives of reconciliation and peace. In this Council we have the responsibility to ensure that our conclusions do contribute to this objective rather than hinder it," India stressed.
India welcomed Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report and the series of steps taken by the Sri Lankan government to implement the report and other measures and said it believes that there is a window of opportunity to forge a consensual way forward towards reconciliation through a political settlement respecting all the ethnic and religious groups in Sri Lanka.
"We are confident that implementation of the report will foster genuine reconciliation," It said.
India, pressured by the Tamil political parties in Tamil Nadu, mainly by DMK which threatened to pull out of the central government if not voted against Sri Lanka, urged the Sri Lankan Government to take forward the process of broader dialogue and show concrete movement towards a meaningful devolution of powers, including the implementation of the 13th Amendment and beyond.
India also urged Sri Lanka to take forward the measures for accountability and to promote human rights that it has committed to.
"It is these steps, more than anything we declare in this Council, which would bring about genuine reconciliation between all the communities of Sri Lanka, including the minority Tamil community," the statement said.