Don't support US-backed resolution on Lanka: Subramanian Swamy to government

NAGPUR: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy today said India should not support the US-backed UN resolution for an inquiry into alleged human rights violations by Sri Lankan army, following surfacing of a video footage purportedly showing the bullet-riddled body of LTTE chief's son.

"India should not act under US pressure (to back the resolution). The slain LTTE chief himself used hundreds of kids as shields in his fight in Sri Lanka, and the US is killing civilians in drone attacks in Pakistan," Swamy told reporters here.

Swamy said everywhere in the world such killings took place in the fight against terror.

The alleged video, he said, was three-year-old and did not prove killing of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran's son by Sri Lankan forces. He criticised former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for "whipping up Tamil sentiments for a wrong cause".

The report about the video in a British newspaper came ahead of a crucial vote on US-backed UN Human Rights Council resolution for an inquiry into alleged human rights violations by Lankan army.

It purportedly showed the bullet-riddled body of Balachandran, the 12-year-old son of Prabhakaran, stripped to the waist with five bullet holes to the chest.

The footage dating from May 18, 2009, allegedly showed how the Sri Lankan army engaged in crimes against humanity in the last days of its war against LTTE.

The Sri Lankan authorities, however, dubbed the report as "motivated and concocted".

"In our view this is a tentative report, uncorroborated and not being authenticated. This has not been shared with us for us to check. It goes against journalism ethics. The report is motivated and is concocted," Lankan High Commissioner to India Prasad Kariyawasam had told PTI after the report was published.