With an aim of striking a balance, India worked behind the scenes to tone down the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN while ensuring dignity for ethnic Tamils, an act Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said was in line with the government's stand.
Singh said India wanted to ensure that concern was expressed to enable minority Tamils in that country to get justice while there was no infringement on the sovereignty of Sri Lanka.
"One has to weigh pros and cons. What we did was in line with our stand on Sri Lanka. We do not want to infringe on the sovereignty of Sri Lanka but concerns should be expressed so that Tamil people can get justice and lead a life of dignity," the Prime Minister told reporters on the sidelines of a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He was responding to a question on India voting in favour of the US-sponsored resolution that censures Sri Lanka on alleged human rights violations during the war against LTTE.
Sources here said India persuaded the US, sponsor of the resolution, to remove certain references which were "intrusive" in the functioning of a sovereign country like Sri Lanka. New Delhi also insisted that the resolution contributed to the political reconciliation process in the island nation.
At India's instance, a paragraph that said 'recalling Council resolutions 5/1 and 5/2 on institution building of the Human Rights Council' was added to the resolution, the sources said.
The other change was in reference to the wording of the last para of the resolution which speaks of providing advice and technical assistance on implementing the steps suggested in the resolution.
The amendment makes it clear that the advice and technical assistance would be provided "in consultation with and with the concurrence of" the government of Sri Lanka that made the resolution "non-intrusive", the sources said.
"We were very particular that we cannot accept (original resolution). We told the sponsor that the assistance should be given with the consultation and concurrence of the government. We also made sure that it is restricted only to assistance and not a monitoring mechanism," they said.
The sources noted that India played a major role in the 2009 May resolution in UNHRC, which was also accepted by Sri Lanka.
"We had got into a situation that there should a political settlement i.e. the LLRC (Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission) process. We had always considered that was the solution. We thought this (resolution) was contributing to political reconciliation process. This has determined our support," they said.
The sources said the resolution was "non-judgemental" one and India is of the opinion that Sri Lanka should be given time and space to achieve political reconciliation.
To questions on whether India's vote in favour of the resolution would affect its ties with Sri Lanka, they said the ties between the two countries were thousands of years old.
"We have a very close engagement with the Government of Sri Lanka they understand the spirit under which we approached the issue. We don't see any contradictions we have made. We have been seeking constructive reconciliation process," the sources said.
They said Sri Lanka should bring about genuine political reconciliation in a "credible" and "time-bound" manner.
The sources also made it clear that it would continue to take up the issues bilaterally with Sri Lanka.
Explaining its position on its vote for the resolution, India said it believes the primary responsibility for promotion and protection of human rights lies with the states.
India voted in favour of the resolution along with 23 other countries while 15 countries voted against it.
