India justifies voting against Sri Lanka

India reiterated Saturday that it did the right thing by voting for a US resolution at the UN Human Rights Council that asked Sri Lanka to do more to rehabilitate its minority Tamils because devolution of power to them “is not moving forward”. “Many promises were made but very little has been done. The rehabilitation process has proceeded well, in fact better than in countries like Cambodia but the political process is not happening. The devolution (of power) is not moving forward,” official sources said, justifying the Indian vote. “We voted because this echoes the thrust of the Indian stand,” the sources said, adding: “We have to be consistent.” Senior officials said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had written to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the issue Friday night. Asked whether the Sri Lankan government was going slow on the devolution process because it feared that this might revive terrorism, the sources said: “It works both ways.” Asked whether the Indian vote would adversely impact on ties with Sri Lanka, the sources said rather cryptically: “It shouldn’t.” Officials familiar with the issue do not agree with a suggestion that the UNHRC resolution would actually widen the divide between the majority Sinhalese and the Tamils. “That won’t happen,” the sources said.