External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday said that the issue of human rights is part of the development agenda, and added that this is subject of an on going discussion in the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting ( CHOGM).
‘There are human rights and this is subject of an on going discussion in the Commonwealth. Keeping someone hungry is a human rights issue or not? If we are able to provide people health security and other concerns you are actually addressing their human rights issues. We see human rights as part of the development agenda. We believe human rights are intrinsically linked with development agenda,’ he told media here today.
“When we talk of development agenda beyond 2015, we are talking about a host of issues, which we treat as intrinsic to development. You can’t segregate the two, and that is our approach. This approach is supported by a whole lot of countries, not just in the Commonwealth but beyond it as well,” he added.
Khurshid also said that it is the Sri Lankan government that needs to address the problems of the people, and added that India is willing to offer to assistance to it and to persuade Colombo to address the issues of accountability and reconciliation on the issue of Tamil community’s sentiments.
“Our stand has been exactly that there has to be truth and reconciliation must go on. If you want to move on and build a society where everyone comes together you need to address the concerns. We can express our concern, but we can’t address these issues. These need to be addressed by the government of Sri Lanka. Our job may well be to persuade them, to help them. But ultimately it has to be addressed by Sri Lanka itself,’ he added.
Responding to a question on British Prime Minister David Cameron becoming the first head of government to visit the Jaffna region since Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948, he said that he is disappointed that Manmohan Singh could not visit the northern province.
“Is it not sad? I wanted my Prime Minister to go there first. I was the first Foreign Minister to go from India. But who do I blame for it? I am disappointed that I couldn’t take my Prime Minister there as the first Prime Minister in the world to visit Jaffna,” he said.
“We are building 50,000 houses-I couldn’t show those to him. We built roads there-I couldn’t show those to him. We are building schools and community centres,” he added. (ANI)