by Kumar David Why is there uncertainty, even at this late stage, about the stand India will take on the Human Rights resolution on Sri Lanka’s long ended civil war and overlapping allegations that the current regime harbours authoritarian ambitions? India’s silence is both curious and significant. There are three substantive players in the game in Geneva. Team 1 is the core group (UK, Canada, Germany and three other ninnies) supported by the new US Administration; they work as a unit. Team 2 is China; the only other important team member is Russia. Team 3 is India and India alone, an important outlier. Everyone else (there are 47 voting members on the Council) is small change led by the nose by one or other of the big teams and this goes for the Muslim states and Pakistan. America-Europe or China, Teams 1 or 2, will tell them what to do, and these nobodies will docilely follow – give or take some mild concern among Muslim states about the plight of fellow Sri Lankan Sons of the Prophet. The caveat is that if Team 3 (India) takes a strong position one way for the other it will swing five-plus votes which will be a deciding factor on whether Sri Lanka is treated harshly.