Pragmatism vs Nehru policy in Lanka fight

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Krishna New Delhi, March 14: India’s foreign policy has changed from the time of Jawaharlal Nehru and pragmatism, not just ethics and morality, guides South Block’s decision-making, S.M. Krishna told the Rajya Sabha today. The external affairs minister’s statement came in his reply to DMK and Left MPs’ demand that human and ethical values should guide New Delhi’s position on a US-initiated resolution against Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Council. The resolution is critical of Colombo’s failure to punish those responsible for war crimes against ethnic Tamils during the last phase of the 2009 civil war. The resolution will be put to vote on March 23. The DMK and the AIADMK want India to vote in favour of the resolution. India, however, is uncomfortable with the current draft of the resolution as it envisages an independent UN mechanism to investigate the war crimes that Sri Lankan forces allegedly committed on ethnic Tamils. Read..