COLOMBO, Jan. 17 -- The Gotabaya Rajapaksa government is unfazed by the possibility of Western nations taking a hostile stance at the March session of the UN Human Rights Council UNHRC) in Geneva.

In sharp contrast to the past, Sri Lankan Tamil leaders (mainly from the Tamil-majority Northern Province) have united and presented a joint charter of demands to the UN. For the first time, disparate and mutually antagonistic leaders like R. Sampanthan, C. V. Wigneswaran and Gajendrakumar Ponambalam, have banded together.

The unity was brought about by the powerful and moneyed Tamil Diaspora in the West. The current unification will mark a sea change in Tamil politics if the unity on key issues is maintained beyond the March session of the UN...