ZURICH (TIP): Sri Lankan President Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisawa got the good news that his country has been given a six-month reprieve by the UN Human Rights Council during his visit to India this month. The UN Human Rights long-awaited report on alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka during the LTTE conflict during the former Rajapaksa government would be published in September instead of March 2015 to give the new government time.

This will be relief also for India, which had been voting against the previous Sri Lanka government, and supporting the US in its resolutions in the Human Rights Council, but now wants better relations with Sri Lanka under a new regime.

The reprieve followed request by the Maithripala government to the US to repair relations after his victory in January elections. Sri Lanka’s other allies, China and Pakistan, are also members of the rights council.

The US had sponsored resolutions against Sri Lanka in the Human Rights Council in 2012, 2013, 2014, during the Sri Lanka war under the Rajapaksa government. India had then worked hard behind scenes to temper these. Under pressure from the DMK, the UPA government voted against Sri Lanka and for the US resolution in 2012 and 2013, even though the DMK had just withdrawn support.