New Delhi, March 19
Amid mounting pressure from the DMK, a key ally of the UPA government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India was inclined to vote in favour of a resolution initiated by the US on ‘war crimes’ in Sri Lanka to be taken up at the 19th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva later this week.

Emphasising that India did not have as yet the final text of the resolution, he hoped it would advance New Delhi’s objective to achieve a future for the Tamil community in the island nation based on equality, dignity, justice and self-respect.

The PM was replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha on the President’s address to a joint session of Parliament on March 12. His announcement was welcomed with the thumping of desks by members of rival parties from Tamil Nadu, the DMK and AIADMK.

In Chennai, DMK president M. Karunanidhi was quick to welcome the PM’s statement, describing it as "a victory for the Sri Lankan struggle". He also called off his proposed hunger strike to demand that India vote in favour of the resolution. The DMK executive committee meeting to discuss the issue has also been called off.

The DMK had been relentlessly pressuring the government to support the Tamil cause by supporting the resolution. It had gone to the extent of threatening to withdraw support to the UPA government. Not to be left behind, the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu had also upped the ante against the Centre, demanding that India support the resolution to indict Sri Lanka.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had last week told Parliament that New Delhi normally does not vote on a country-specific resolution, earning the wrath of the Tamil parties.

Human rights groups accuse Sri Lanka's army of deliberately attacking tens of thousands of civilians in the final months of its decades-long struggle against Tamil separatist terrorists.

The measure, still being drafted, is expected to come up for a vote in the UNHRC on Friday. It is expected to express concern about the Sri Lankan military's actions in 2009, as it crushed remnants of the LTTE. A new video footage showing the summary execution of the 12-year-old son of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran had outraged people across the world. The Sri Lankan government has dismissed the video as morphed.

It is to be seen how the Lankan Government would react to Singh’s statement and whether New Delhi’s proposed move would have a bearing on relations between the two countries. The PM said his government fully shared "the concerns and sentiments" raised by MPs regarding the welfare of Lankan Tamils and stressed that their resettlement and rehabilitation had been of "the highest and most immediate priority for our government".

Alluding to the resolution that deals with alleged human rights violations during the protracted conflict in Sri Lanka, Singh said India has conveyed to Colombo "the importance of a genuine process of reconciliation to address the grievances of the Tamil community".

"In this connection, we have called for implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the Commission appointed by Sri Lankan government that has been tabled before the Sri Lankan Parliament. These include various constructive measures for healing the wounds of the conflict and fostering the process of lasting peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka," he said.