This comes at a time when the Dravida politicians and activists in Tamil Nadu calling for international blockade against Sri Lanka for “atrocities and genocide” allegedly perpetrated by the Sri Lankan Army on Tamils during the last phase of the war in May 2009.

A TV documentary produced by Channel Four, an independent TV station in the UK and the photographs of 12-year-old Balachandran, the son of slain LTTE leader V Prabhakaran, reportedly killed by the Sri Lankan Army in captivity, had set the tone for the present round of outcry against the Rajapaksa Government.

The US resolution demands that the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) take the island Government into confidence while probing cases of atrocities. It has also called for an independent and credible international investigation into alleged violations of international human rights law during the last phase of the Eelam war which culminated in the wiping out of the top LTTE leadership including Prabhakaran and his family.

Politicians in Tamil Nadu, including DMK chief M Karunanidhi, have been pressurising India to take severe action against the Rajapaksa Government for its ‘failure’ to transfer power in the North and North-East regions of the island nation, where the ethnic Tamils are in a majority. The  Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO), an umbrella organisation revived by Karunanidhi in 2011 following the battering he suffered in the hands of Jayalalithaa in the Assembly election, has called for a State-wide general strike on Tuesday to highlight the woes of the Lankan Tamils.

The Dravida politicians are calling for Tamils in the island nation to get dignity, equality and same opportunities as received by their Sinhala brethren. The other day saw the DMK, the most trusted ally of the Congress and the second largest constituent of the UPA Government, walking out of the Rajya Sabha in the company of the AIADMK, its political nemesis, over the ‘failure of the Union Government’ to give a concrete reply on what it plans to do during the United Nations Human Rights Council Meeting to be held in Geneva.

All of a sudden, the USA had become the most sought after country even by the Leftists. The CPI and the CPI(M) which see red when someone mentions the name USA, wanted India to support the US resolution.

But observers in Tamil Nadu pointed out that the high-decibel demands shown by the DMK during the debate in both Houses of Parliament are missing when it comes to solve the burning issues in the State. Tamil Nadu is reeling under severe power shortage with most districts going without power for nearly 18 hours a day. The DMK is silent on the issue, which is a remnant of the 2006 to 2011 Karunanidhi regime.

“The ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka has been propped up by parties in Tamil Nadu because they do not have any other issues right now. They are under the notion that this high voltage campaign for Tamils in Sri Lanka will bring them rich dividends during the next Lok Sabha elections. The ruling AIADMK has hijacked the issue from Karunanidhi,” said NK Kalyanasundaram, veteran political commentator. The DMK which laments over the poor conditions of the roads in northern Sri Lanka forget the quality of roads they built during their tenures, he pointed out.

According to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who was in Washington last week to discuss the Sri Lankan issue with the State department, it was not possible for the US to bring in a resolution not acceptable to Sri Lanka. “China and Russia will definitely veto any move to set up an internationally-appointed intrusive probe which Sri Lanka will be compelled to comply,” said Swamy.

“I had urged the US leadership to undertake bilateral consultations with Sri Lanka to work out a consensus resolution based on the submissions of Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs recently, rather than to repeat the divisive resolution of last year, which has remained sterile and a dead letter, except for enthusing the financial legatees of the LTTE to continue to finance disinformation in the media,” Swamy told The Pioneer after his meeting with the US officials. The Janata Party chief had discussions with President Rajapaksa and  Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa before visiting the USA.

The Eelam War of May 2009 which claimed thousands of lives could have been avoided had DMK chief Karunanidhi used his clout with the Union Government. Though he launched an indefinite fast in May 2009 at the Mareena Beach, he called it off when it was time for lunch making the whole issue a comedy of errors. He claims that the Union Government gave him wrong information that the war has ended.