By TN Ashok
New Delhi, July 11: India as a matter of principle is opposed to any foreign observers’ team visiting disturbed areas in any country including India or Sri Lanka, a spokesman of the external affairs indicated today.
The remark came in the wake of questions from newsmen today on what was India’s stand on the reported move of the United Nations to send an observers team to disturbed areas in Sri Lanka and the island nation’s opposition to it.
India, he said, had abstained from voting on a resolution in the United Nations on war crimes and human rights violations when the issue was raised by several western nations. Since then the demand for sending an observers team to get an on the spot assessment of the situation had been strong. Reports from the island nation had suggested that when the Rajapakse government mounted an offensive on the Tamil militant groups in the Northern Province several civilians suffered collateral damage to life and property.
Sri Lanka had consistently denied any human rights violations. Recently, it was announced that a UN observer’s team would visit Sri Lanka to get a true picture of the situation there.
The spokesman said that India has always favoured a cooperative approach on the issues of human rights violations. There is an urgent need to address these issues in a cooperative manner rather than take a punitive approach, he said.