These are comments by former Indian Foreign Secretary Jaswant Singh during the discussion hosted by Headlines Today on the atrocities highlighted by the acclaimed Channel 4 documentary, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields.
When asked if it wasn’t time for India to get off the fenceon Sri Lanka's war crimes?:
“You said the government of India appeared to sit on the fence for too long. Governments cannot, cannot even appear to, sit on fences for too long. Otherwise the fence will enter their soul, not just their actions.”
When asked if about geopolitical concerns that India's acting would encourage Sri Lanka to ally with China:
“I am always extremely chary of this catchall phrase, ‘geopolitical’. I tend to be very suspicious about the use this phrase because it is a coverall phrase which can mean anything and everything.
“And secondly, I don’t think a great country like India can determine its policies and practice its policies in apprehension of the activities of any other country.”
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"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently said that the [Indian] government was putting pressure on [the Sri Lankan] government to probe into the alleged massacre. The Lankan President [Mahinda Rajapaksa] the very next day said that he was not under pressure from India. Whom do we believe?"
- D Raja, National Secretary of India’s CPI party. See PTI’s report here
See also reports by on CPI’s all-India 'Day of Solidarity' with Sri Lanka's Tamils by The Hindu and TamilNet.
