INDIA LIKELY TO ABSTAIN ONLY ON DPRK VOTE IN UN

UNCLAS NEW DELHI 005002 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL UNGA BO BM CU IR KN SU IN SUBJECT: INDIA LIKELY TO ABSTAIN ONLY ON DPRK VOTE IN UN THIRD COMMITTEE RESOLUTIONS REF: A. SECSTATE 157021 ¶B. NEW DELHI 04668 ¶1. (SBU) Poloffs delivered ref A demarche to MEA Director (United Nations Economic and Social) Dinesh Patnaik on November 16, urging the GOI, as a huge democracy and defender of human rights, to support these resolutions, or at least, to agree not to render no-action votes. Patnaik reiterated the GOI's position that it will not support country-specific human rights resolutions in the UN, remarking that India is expected to vote for no action on the resolutions (ref B). One notable exception is the resolution on the DPRK; Patnaik noted that India can be expected to abstain on this vote, because of its objections to the abductions of Japanese citizens committed by that country. Explaining India's unwillingness to publicly support condemnation of Burma, Patnaik observed that the GOI views the human rights records of the regimes of Pakistan and Burma as very similar and cannot comprehend the divergence of U.S. policy regarding these countries. WHITE