India has no right to preach to Sri Lanka on human rights when its own record is dismal
Posted on April 20th, 2013
Asada M Erpini
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ India keeps on preaching to Sri Lanka on human rights violations and the need for giving the Tamils in Sri Lanka an opportunity to live with basic rights. The chorus is led by none other than IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Prime Minister who said on 08 March, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”India is “worried” about the fate of Tamils in Sri Lanka and wants them to live with “dignity and self respectƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. On 06 March, addressing the Indian Parliament, the gentleman said further that, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-his government very seriously takes the sentiments expressed by members of the parliament on the issue of human rights violations during the conflict in Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. And, who may I ask is India ready to go to bed with when it comes to levelling charges of human rights violations at the UNHRC sessions in March 2013? It is the USA, the biggest human rights violator on the planet, that India unashamedly takes the side of in denouncing Sri Lanka on human rights issues, just as it did in 2012.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Not surprisingly, the loquacious political leaders in Tamil Nadu want the rest of the world to believe that they spend all their waking hours, worrying about the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”sufferingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ that their blood brother Tamils in Sri Lanka undergo at the hands of the political and military leadership in the island nation. Jayalalitha, Karunanidhi and Sreemaran and many others of their ilk, whose only ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”talentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is the link to the Tamil celluloid fantasies, have managed to convince the illiterates in Tamil Nadu to accept that, even in their dreams, their main concern is the welfare of the Sri Lanka Tamils.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It may be very revealing if India, but more specifically its Southern state of Tamil Nadu, turns the light inwards, and see what is going in their own backyard. If they do, they would find that there will be no time left for them to worry about the problems ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” real or imaginary ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” in some other sovereign nation.
There is a long list of human rights violations that have occurred, and continue to happen, in New Delhi and in many other parts of India. India as a nation should be ashamed of its score card, to use an expression from cricket parlance.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ On December 2012, a 23-year old physiotherapy student, who was travelling with her companion in a bus in New Delhi at around 9.00 p.m., was assaulted and raped by six men. It was reported that the female victim was sexually attacked with an iron bar. The unfortunate woman died in a Singapore hospital, to which she had been airlifted for treatment.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ On 18 April 2013, a woman, who demanded the money that she had lent, was assaulted with wooden bars by a gang of men in Bihar. An old man and a woman who happened to see the incident and who attempted to save the victim, too, were attacked by the burly men and were forced away.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Woman offered lift, abducted, gang-rapedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ goes another news headline. A report in Times of India dated 19 April mentions a 19-year-old woman being abducted from south Delhi the previous evening. The woman had then been sedated and gang-raped.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Women in India and the neighbouring countries are reluctant to report rape. The main reason is that, for no fault of the victims, they are ostracized by the society that has not come out of its Stone Age values and beliefs. Following the December 2012 gang rape in New Delhi, there were many protests by women throughout India, and it is now claimed that the victims are increasingly coming forward to report rape to the authorities.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ According to Sky.com the number of reported cases of rapes in New Delhi ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” yes, the capital city of the so-called emerging superpower, not some remote backwoods – between 01 January and 24 March this year was 359. It is not difficult to assume that the actual number may be much higher, as there still will be many women who would be hesitant to report rape.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A British daily has reported on 19 April, under the caption ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Five-year-old girl ‘raped for four days’ after she was kidnapped by neighbour in third Delhi paedophile crime this monthƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. Even the rights of children are violated and the practice seems to continue unabated.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The rape fanatics do not spare the foreign visitor to India either, in spite of the fact the country earns an enormous amount of money by parading the Taj Mahal, ancient palaces of the former rulers, wild life, music, dancing, etc. to the tourists.
A couple from Switzerland who was touring the country on bicycle suffered their worst nightmare at the hands of the inhuman vultures in Datia, Madhya Pradesh in March. The woman who was camping with her partner was gang raped after the man had been assaulted and tied to a tree. Then again, a British tourist had to jump out of a hotel balcony in Agra (the city of the famous Taj Mahal) to escape from a hotel employee who attempted to rape her.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The data at the National Crime Records Bureau show that one woman is raped every 20 minutes in India. According to police estimates, out of ten women raped, only four report the crime to the police. Why? The victims are shamed by their families and the communities. The criminals who commit the crime are the ones who should be shamed and punished, but in ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Incredible India!ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ it is the victim who is at the receiving end of the shame.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Some of the worst incidents of attacks against visitors to India occur in IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s southern state of Tamil Nadu, especially if the visitor happens to be Sri Lankan or appears to be connected to things Sri Lankan. A Buddhist monk, who was a student in a Postgraduate Diploma in Archaeology programme in New Delhi, was attacked by a gang when the student group visited the Thanjavoor temple complex in Tamil Nadu on March 16 2013. Again, another Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, who arrived on Tamil Nadu Express along with 18 pilgrims, was attacked at Chennai Central railway station on 18 March 2013. All that some big mouths in New Delhi have done since is merely saying that these were isolated incidents.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Foeticide and infanticide ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” aborting female foetuses and killing new born infants ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” is rampant across India. In a statement attributed to Amitabh Bachchan, the actor questions how India can congratulate itselfƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-on being a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-superstarƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ nationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ when millions of females are lost through foeticide and infanticide.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Most countries have a female to male population ratio of 105:100. In India it is less than 93 females to 100 males. UNICEF states that 50 million females are missing from the population because of gender discrimination. Some partners to the crime of foeticide offer ultrasound scanning services advertised with phrases such as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Spend 600 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees laterƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ to detect the gender of the unborn child. The implication is that if the infant turns out to be a female, the practice of dowry – which is supposed to be illegal ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” will force the parents to part with a fortune when the girl grows up. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-So, get rid of the foetus nowƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ is the message.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A report dated November 14, 2008 that appeared in Hindustan Times refers to incidents at Dr Ambedkar Government Law College, Chennai. Upper caste students are said to have attacked students of a lower caste, while all that the police could do was to stand idle watching the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”actionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The reason for the inaction, according to the Chennai Police Commissioner, was, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-principal didnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t give them the permissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. The inhuman attack by law students on a fellow colleague is available for those who want to watch the video.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ On top of all these rather unenviable news reports from the giant neighbour to the North, there comes an announcement that some engineering students have put their smart brains together to create an item that gives an electric shock to any intruder. Wow! Yet, it certainly is not something that deters burglars entering a personƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s house or prevents a car thief breaking into and driving off in someone elseƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s vehicle. The invention is anti-rape underwear for women, and India should be proud of its achievements and ingenuity.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Rather belatedly though, a former official of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India says, as reported on 18 April 2013 in Times of India,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-playing a big brotherly role will not serve New DelhiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. The man is considered the architect of Indian influence in Sri Lanka from 2001 to 2004. There seems, rather sadly, a mix up of words. Being a big brother is a stance that many Sri Lankans will be ready to live with. On the contrary, what India has been doing is being a big bully, and now it has even found a willing partner in the USA to continue to do so.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ No one says that everything in Sri Lanka is hunky dory and that everyone is a saint or an angel, singing praises to God or meditating, contemplating the uncertainties of samsara and yearning for deliverance in the form of eternal bliss in nirvana. Yet people in Sri Lanka do not preach, day in day out, to every country in the vicinity on how it should manage its affairs.
April 21st, 2013 at 10:50 am
Incredible India – It indeed is!!. Thank you ASADA I hope you will formally send this to the Indian High Commission and other media – S de Silva – London
April 21st, 2013 at 12:10 pm
On Caste Divisions in Sri Lanka and India
Yes, indeed, there were strong caste divisions in Sri Lanka … related to the SERVICES the various groups performed for the king, but not embedded in the RELIGION as in India. As we well know Buddhism rejects caste distinctions as a basis for determining the worth of individuals, and fought that battle in India during the Buddha’s day as well.
That is precisely why Dr. Babasehab Ambedkar led his Dalit community to embrace Buddhism in 1955.
The majority Buddhist religion is PRECISELY the reason why caste distinctions have practically vanished among the Sinhala people since independence, irrespective of their religion (Buddhism, Christianity), whereas the Hindu majority Tamil community is STILL strongly divided along caste lines.
In fact, I remember when I was an Engineering student at the Peradeniya eFac, certain of my Tamil colleagues came all the way from Jaffna to Colombo to borrow my class notes, rather than walk to the homes of high caste Tamil students in Jaffna. At Peradeniya, we sat together in class, lived together in the residential halls, played and partied together, but yet when the Tamil students went back home, the caste distinctions were reasserted. However, our Tamil batchmates from Colombo did not do this; they were fully assimilated and integrated into the tolerant mindset of the Buddhist majority community in the South of Sri Lanka.
In every country, it is the majority community that sets the tone and mores of the society as a whole. If the majority community is tolerant, the society as a whole is tolerant. If the majority community is intolerant, the society as a whole becomes intolerant. The teachings of the RELIGION of the majority community, as it relates to differences in communal attributes such as caste, race, religion, and sex is CRITICAL to social justice.
On the eve of India’s independence, Dr. Ambedkar was trying to get Mahatma Gandhi to include in the Consitution of India a clause declaring caste discrimination as illegal. But, Mahatma encountered strong opposition from the rest of the Indian Congress. Therefore, since the Dalits were OUTSIDE the Hindu caste system, and therefore a de-facto NON-EXISTENT community, Ambedkar demanded classification of the Dalits as a unique sovereign community within India. Mahatma Gandhi opposed this also … saying that such a declaration would make PERMANENT the discrimination against Dalits … and prevent their EVER being assimilated into a caste-less future Hindu society. As it turned out, Ambedkar caved in and supported the Congress’s bid for independence from India, accepting only a promise from Mahatma that a national referendum would be held on the issue after independence. We know that in 1955 or so, frustrated with the failure to get Hindu society to accept the Dalits as equal human beings, Dr. Ambedkar left the Hindu religion and embraced the other great religion of India … Buddhism … that would accept ALL human beings as equals.
Although Ambedkar was absolutely right in departing a religion that denied him and his people basic human rights, Mahatma’s warning that allocation of different special rights to different communities defined by caste would permanently embed caste divisions within India and prevent progress towards a casteless society was PROPHETIC.
Today, Indian communities compete for government benefits (aka “reservations”) on the basis of caste. Although the intention was to alleviate the historical disadvantages of different caste groups, the identification of SCHEDULED CASTES, BACKWARD CASTES, and OTHER BACKWARD CASTES, ad inifinitum, ad nauseam in India has been to create a permanent caste structure fiercely protected by caste group in their quest for
free government benefits.
As one Indian Supreme Court judge once quipped “There is no other country in the world like India, in which people compete to degrade/debase their social status just to secure government benefits”. He was DEAD RIGHT … there is NO OTHER. The path to communal hell is clearly paved with good government intentions.
The government benefits enjoyed by these “Historically Disadvantaged Communities” to the exclusion of other Indian citizens in need, has caused immense animosity and conflict among the citizens of India, in addition to the standard caste warfare between caste groups trying to preserve the hierarchical caste system of Hinduism.
For example, there are many utterly poor Brahmins … damned by the “poorna noola” they wear across their chests … pulling rickshaws, and cleaning toilets, in the New Delhi area. They are in need just like the Dalits, but are excluded from applying for government benefits because they belong to a high caste!
The SOLUTION TO THIS SELF-INFLICTED DILEMMA is SIMPLE. Give Government Assistance to people on the basis of DEMONSTRATED POVERTY and NEED ONLY … not on the basis of any other communal attribute.
But fear and greed of those who are already on the gravy train, and the political clout they wield in VOTE BANK POLITICS will never allow that. As I recall, Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, had proposed precisely this solution, but got nowhere in taking the country in that direction. The vested interests created by the caste based system enacted … and foreseen 67-odd years ago by Mahatma Gandhi … are just too entrenched. And so, India continues down the path of communal DISCORD and eventual DISINTEGRATION with its people pitted against each other trying to preserve their caste-based allocations of the pie.
The PATH FORWARD … the SRI LANKAN WAY!
That brings us to Sri Lanka. The Tamil Eelamists demand that Sri Lanka also go down a parallel path to COMMUNAL HELL by dividing Sri Lanka on the basis of another communal attribute: RACE.
This kind of Communal Division of Sri Lanka into a Patchwork Quilt of Communal Apartheid Bantustans is PRECISELY what the majority of Sri Lankans want to AVOID.
We don’t view India as a success, but as a COMMUNAL HELL HOLE, A CATACLYSMIC DISASTER in the MAKING.
Instead, we Sri Lankans are headed in a FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT DIRECTION: towards a society in which the only meaningful attribute of its people is that they are Sri Lankan CITIZENS.
In such a society and system of governance, all other COMMUNAL attributes of race, religion, language, caste, and sex are unimportant and ignored. Any person’s status as a legal Sri Lankan citizen qualifies him/her to compete on the basis of the content of his/her demonstrated character, ability and merit for all the benefits Sri Lanka has to offer.
April 21st, 2013 at 10:59 pm
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/04/bombers_uncle_does_more_for_american_muslims_than_progressive_talking_heads_ever_could.html
The EU-India Free Trade Agreement: India up “For Sale” to Western Corporate Capital
Giving the Thieves the Key to Your Home
Sri Lanka Next? to EU , to Chinese?
Do you know that there is a country up for sale? Do you know that its finance, agriculture and retail sectors are being put ‘on the market’? Perhaps you are already aware of this due to various media reports. But then again, maybe you are not because it’s all being carried out behind closed doors in Brussels. The EU-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), something that could fundamentally restructure Indian society and impact the lives of hundreds of millions, is being negotiated ‘on the behalf of the public’ by politicians on both sides who are champions of the type of economic liberalisation that has already been responsible for bankrupting many Western economies.
Negotiations began in 2007, covering a wide range of areas, including various goods, products and services, as well as investment rules, government procurement; and intellectual property rights. After 16 rounds of talks, the issues are still being fine tuned. ‘Developed’ countries are resorting more and more to these types of bilateral trade agreements with individual developing countries because they want to continue to push their free trade agenda that was rejected by developing countries at the World Trade Organisation.
April 21st, 2013 at 11:12 pm
“Instead, we Sri Lankans are headed in a FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT DIRECTION: towards a society in which the only meaningful attribute of its people is that they are Sri Lankan CITIZENS.
In such a society and system of governance, all other COMMUNAL attributes of race, religion, language, caste, and sex are unimportant and ignored. Any person’s status as a legal Sri Lankan citizen qualifies him/her to compete on the basis of the content of his/her demonstrated character, ability and merit for all the benefits Sri Lanka has to offer.”
Well Said.
Need to educate the “Budu: Bala Sena, that is going the path of “Mara”.
Destroy Buddhism and Destroy Sri Lanka, the former Hindu and Jain Country.
April 23rd, 2013 at 6:26 am
We agree with Ananda USA that in India : “The SOLUTION TO THIS SELF-INFLICTED DILEMMA is SIMPLE. Give Government Assistance to people on the basis of DEMONSTRATED POVERTY and NEED ONLY … not on the basis of any other communal attribute”.
However, India must change and survive. Otherwise the whole region would be de-stabilised. Hinduism has the Four Great Yogas to follow instead of the Caste bind and over done image worship & ritual. There are Gurus (spiritual Teachers) in India to bring this about. It is already happening, though slowly. Too slowly ?
Fortunately for Lanka, Buddhism still prevails. The Buddha said “one is high born or low born only according to one’s actions”. May it remain so. BBS must never be violent. To remove social injustices, NON-VIOLENT METHODS must be used
– ALWAYS.
April 23rd, 2013 at 2:02 pm
Insula,
FIRST BAN Muslim Congress. Then talk about BBS. Otherwise it is as BS as the big green book of violence while calling it the religion of peace.
BBS is doing the RIGHT THING.
If you people continue to blame the BBS, that is a BIG THREAT TO PEACE. If you want peace with MOST SLs, STOP blaming BBS and start blaming SLMC.