ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Asada M Erpini

There are more than enough cases of horrendous human rights violation in New Delhi and in many other regions of India for the Indian Prime Minister to worry about. The figures are mind boggling that the learned pundit obviously would not have any time to be concerned about the alleged human rights violations in neighbouring Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ On 18 March, a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, who was on a pilgrimage in Chennai, was attacked by a gang of LTTEƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  supporters. This incident occurred closely on the heels of another Buddhist monk, who had lived for one and half years in New Delhi for a course of studies, visited Thanjavur and Tiruchi on 16 March with his fellow students on a study tour. The Indian prime Minister can be proud of the people whose support allows him to remain in power: among the accused are a State executive committee member and a town secretary.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Even the foreign visitors who bring in large amounts of foreign exchange to India are not spared by the lecherous men who prey on women who mind their own business. A Swiss tourist was gang raped by eight men in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, March 16.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The December gang rape in New Delhi of a 23 year old woman, who was accompanied by her male friend in a bus and who subsequently died of her injuries, made headlines all over the civilised world. In spite of this, 127 cases of rape have been registered in Delhi since the fatal assault on the student.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The proud legacy of India seems boundless. A hotel manager was reported to have rapedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a South Korean touristƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in January this year, and a foreign tourist apparently becameƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a victim of a date rapeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ DelhiƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in February.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The shameless attitude of some of the men in India clearly extends for many years prior to 2013.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  BBC reported that in 2003, a 28-year-old Swiss diplomat was raped in New Delhi by a man who forced her into her car. Apparently the rapist was never caught.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A statistic that the mighty India, which talks of human rights violation in Sri Lanka can be proud of, is that one woman is raped every 20 minutes in India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. The police estimate that only four out of 10 rapes are reported, which means that an unfortunate woman somewhere in India is sexually assaulted every five minutes.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Dear Mr. Prime Minister, please put your house in order first. If you can complete that task and if there is time left in your period at the helm of the government, then you are welcome to worry about the problems or the actions of other countries, especially of a country such as Sri Lanka that obviously does far better.