An international rights group has favoured a tough stand against Sri Lanka over alleged human rights violations and asked India to spell out the reasons even if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chooses to skip the CHOGM Summit in Colombo next month.
It also appealed to the heads of the nations attending the Commonwealth Heads of the Government Meeting (CHOGM) to ask for more accountability from Sri Lankan government.
"Even if they (heads of the governments) do not attend (the CHOGM), there should be clarity on why they are not attending. Because if it's a grey area, then it does not help the cause (of holding Sri Lanka accountable)."
"If the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) decides not to go, he should clarify that he is not going because he is disppointed with Sri Lanka's record (on human rights violation)," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.
The Prime Minister is yet to announce whether he will or will not attend the CHOGM in Sri Lanka. Political parties in Tamil Nadu are opposed to his attending the meeting owing to alleged human rights violations by Sri Lanka.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already said he would skip the meeting owing to "the absence of accountability for serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian standards" during and after the civil war".
Seeking more accountability from Mahinda Rajapaksa government, Ganguly said "in terms of the heads of the state visiting, they should convey a message and make a very firm statement calling for accountability."
The New-York based organisation noted that human rights violations still exist in the country. It pointed to 75 cases of sexual assault documented by HRW from 2006-2012, in which 41 were women, 31 were men and 3 were under-aged boys.
"Human Rights violations exist in Sri Lanka even today. More importantly, gender is not the safeguard against sexual assault," said Charu Lata Hogg, an independent consultant working on human rights violations in Sri Lanka.
