Congress ministers fail to broker peace with DMK over Sri Lanka

The Prime Minister's fragile coalition is under new pressure. Senior partner DMK has threatened to withdraw its five ministers this week from the cabinet unless India asks the UN's top human rights body to hold Sri Lanka accountable for "genocide." Later this month, the UN's top human rights body will vote on a resolution by the US which criticizes Sri Lanka for alleged human rights violations by its defence forces in the final phases of the civil war against the Tamil Tigers which ended in May 2009.

Here are 10 big developments in this story:

(01)     A trio of ministers - P Chidambaram, AK Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad - met the DMK chief M Karunanidhi this evening after which he said, "I have been assured that our demands will be met."

     (02) But sources indicate that a compromise was not brokered and the DMK has threatened to pull its ministers from the government.

        (03) The DMK says it's not enough for India to vote against Sri Lanka in Geneva on March 22. It wants India to add strongly-worded amendments to the US resolution, asking for an international probe that must be completed within a fixed period on the island's "genocide."

      (04) The Foreign Ministry said that, India has not yet seen the final format of the proposed resolution at the UN Human Rights Council against Sri Lanka. The text of the resolution is expected to be finalised and circulated (March 19, 2013).

(05)     Dilip Sinha, the permanent representative of India to the UN in Geneva, will arrive in Delhi tomorrow (March 19, 2013) to brief the government on the US resolution.
(06)     More than 500 college students were arrested in Chennai today for attempting to march to the Governor's house to protest against Sri Lanka. IIT Madras has joined the protests. (Techies swayed by anti-Sri Lanka stir)

(07)      The state government has ordered all arts and science colleges to remain closed to contain student demonstrations, an order that has proved ineffective.

(08)     The DMK's arch rival, J Jayalalithaa, who is chief minister of Tamil Nadu, has written to the Prime Minister today stating, "It is absolutely important that India takes a strong stand in support of the US-sponsored resolution at the 22nd session of the UNHRC and more importantly moves necessary independent amendments to further strengthen the resolution." (Letter written by Jaya to PM: Jaya's letter to PM)

(09)      Last month, Channel 4 from the UK released new photos which allegedly show the 12-year-old son of the chief of the rebel Tamil Tigers was shot in cold blood by the Sri Lankan army. Sri Lanka alleges that the photos are morphed. 
(10) Last year, India voted against Sri Lanka after the DMK threatened to quit the government. The resolution adopted then asked Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of an internal commission.

About UNHRC

IIT-Madras joins Statewide stir with fast, rally

The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) is the latest in a long line of colleges to join the ongoing students’ protest against Sri Lankan war crimes. The agitation has now spread to dozens of colleges in nearly 20 districts across the State.

The IIT-M campus, usually known to be politically inactive, was bustling on March 17, 2013, as 69 students began a fast under a shamiana. In the evening, the students joined with over 100 others and held a rally and gave talks to create awareness about the war crimes and atrocities committed against Sri Lankan Tamils recently.

Som Prakash Singh, an MLA from Bihar addressed the students, telling them that it was only recently during Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Bihar that the people there began hearing about the killings and atrocities committed.

Eeveera (an engineering student in IIT-M) said that, at least 40 of the fasting students are from north India. We are fasting to say that this is not a Sri Lankan or a Tamil issue alone. Posters, explaining the history of conflict in seven different languages, dotted the campus. Students even have a poster in Tulu as many of us come from there. Students said that, their point was to highlight the issue and spread awareness to as many people as possible.

The students also organised a panel discussion in which political experts and analysts talked about several issues relating to Sri Lanka and India.

          Raj Mohan, a researcher at the institute said that, IIT-M has students from many states. We are trying to scale up the State-wide protest to the national level in the hope that the Central government will take note and break its silence on this issue. Students from Presidency College as well as social activists also arrived at the college. The students said it was entirely their initiative, free of influences from political parties. The students had been given the go-ahead by the IIT-M administration.

          Another student said, it is just a day-long fast and sure classes will not be disrupted. This will help awaken the political consciousness of the student population in IIT. Students are sure the other IITs will soon follow suit.

          Political analysts say it has been quite a while since students in Tamil Nadu took to the streets to register their dissent. V. Krishna Ananth, a political historian, said, in the 1980s, students protested against the Sri Lankan genocide. But those protests were different from what is happening now. This time, the students represent a cross-section of academia. Students from almost all colleges are involved.

More protests are anticipated. While officials at Anna University have been issuing notices to students to stay away, members of the Student Movement Against Genocide and Student Struggle Committee for Tamil Eelam say their ranks are swelling.

          Dhiviya, coordinator, Student Struggle Committee for Tamil Eelam said, students from nearly 17 city colleges are coming together to protest against Sri Lankan war crimes outside the Governor’s house on Monday. College managements and police officers have been trying to break the movement but we won’t let that happen.

Nityanand Jayaraman, a city-based activist, added: students are harbingers of change. Governments have been mortally scared of people voicing their opinions, so they have always taken pre-emptive measures such as closing colleges. The students have asserted their rights, and shown that they are here to lead.