Breaking its silence on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday joined the growing chorus for a credible independent inquiry into the war crimes and continuing human rights abuses there besides calling upon India to adopt a proactive policy towards achieving these ends.
The party has demanded New Delhi, as a voting member, to move a resolution at the ongoing UNHRC session at Geneva to press for an independent and credible investigation and bring to book the guilty. In a statement here, it said the UPA should reveal what it proposes to do and how it would ensure that Colombo commissions or facilitates a credible and independent probe to the satisfaction of the global community.
Though coming after a prolonged silence, the party has stopped short of explicitly calling for an ‘international inquiry’. More significantly, it has avoided any reference to independent Eelam.
In the view of the party, support to the US-sponsored resolution at the UNHRC was nothing but tokenism. Citing various reports of organisations like Amnesty International, the party blamed the Rajapaksa regime of failing to set its human rights record straight.
Stating that the issue was of emotional importance to the people of Tamil Nadu, who considered the Lankan Tamils as brethren, the party also accused New Delhi of shying away from taking action to ensure accountability on the part of Colombo.
The AAP was also highly critical of the international community for its selective amnesia in spite of mounting evidence on war crimes in Sri Lanka.