Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Why this double standard?' that was published in Newsband

Why this double standard?

The Commonwealth countries are supposed to believe in human rights, democracy, good governance, rule of law and freedom of expression among others. Then how is that Commonwealth Head of Governments’ Meeting 2013 (CHOGM 2013) took place in Sri Lanka which had grave human rights violations committed by the Sri Lankan military against Tamil civilians in 2009 during the last battles against the LTTE?

The Rajapaksa government had hoped that the summit would help in restoring its international credibility. Exactly the opposite has happened. There is a harsher spotlight on the country’s rights record, new allegations have been levelled even while old ones refuse to go away.

Some heads of government vociferously opposed this Meet and stayed away. They included even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

British Prime Minister David Cameron displayed the guts to publicly criticise Sri Lanka’s rights record, issuing an ultimatum to President Rajapaksa to institute by March a credible inquiry into allegations of rights violations. He did what the Indian Prime Minister should have done. He visited Jaffna, connecting with the Tamil people and their problems first-hand. This is what our Indian Prime Minister should have done too. But he didn’t do it.

If our PM had visited Jaffna and interacted with the victims of war, it would have strongly registered India's concern for Srilankan Tamilians. Also it would have registered that India strictly adheres to the Foreign polices imbibed so far. Victims primarily require empathy, only then there can be a proper focus on the alleged crimes caused, which British PM did.

Well, Let us now wait and see how our Indian Prime Minister will deal with Sri Lanka issue in March 2014 at the U.N. Human Rights Council.

It is true that British PM did the right thing by strongly opposing the atrocities against Tamilians in Sri Lanka. But one can’t understand as to how the British PM, who had displayed full sympathies and support for Tamilians in Sri Lanka, could agree to fund for mine clearing in the northern part of Sri Lanka. This double standard adopted by the British PM is not appreciated by any Indian.