LTTE chief's son executed, claims documentary; will India vote against Lanka?

Colombo:  A documentary shot in Sri Lanka, to be aired on Channel 4 this week, shows a 12-year-old lying dead with five bullet holes in his chest. "The boy's name is Balachandran Prabhakaran; he is the son of the LTTE leader, Vellupillai Prabakaran. He has been executed in cold blood," said the documentary's maker, Callum Macrae, in an interview to the Independent newspaper. In the same paper, Mr. Macrae says the video "seems to have been shot [as] a grotesque trophy video by Sri Lankan forces."

The 60-minute documentary titled Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished corrodes Sri Lanka's opposition to a resolution moved by the US at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in Geneva. What America has asked for is an inquiry into human rights violations and the alleged execution of civilians by Sri Lankan soldiers. India's vote on the resolution will be closely watched.

Sri Lankan officials have rejected the claims - both in the new documentary and in another last year that also aired on Channel 4 - that the end of their country's 26-year-long civil war included atrocities that catalogue unimaginable war crimes against the island's Tamils.

"The Lankan Government is in the process of reconciliation and taking steps to bridge gaps. We don't need extra regional intervention in our region. It's uncalled for," said
Prasad Kariyawasam, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in India, about the resolution in Geneva that will be put to vote soon.
India had hinted that it would support its neighbor during the vote but the new documentary may provoke a reassessment.

"The UN reported that over 40,000 people died in weeks. This is appalling. India has a great opportunity to raise this at UN General Assembly. India as a neighbour must act at least now," said Suren Surendiran, a spokesperson for the Global Tamil Forum.
The DMK, which is a senior partner in the coalition at the Centre, has begun urging the government to support the rights of the Tamil people. The DMK has given notice in the Rajya Sabha for the suspension of question hour tomorrow  for discussing India's stand on the matter. In Parliament today, as the budget session commenced, MPs from the party shouted loudly, referring to the Geneva resolution. "India should support US resolution against Lanka in UNHRC...lots of human rights violations have taken place in Sri Lanka," DMK chief M Karunanidhi said today.
But a faction also warns India that the consequences of voting against Sri Lanka could be grave.  

"Support for such adventurist resolutions will make India vulnerable to future resolutions on Kashmir and Manipur," said Subramanian Swamy, the Janata Party President who is from Tamil Nadu.

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