Don’t ignore plight of Lankan Tamils, Karuna tells Centre
Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi on Monday said he will ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to intervene on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and ensure a ceasefire.
By ET Bureau |
CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi on Monday said he will ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to intervene on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and ensure a ceasefire.
���The killing of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka has afflicted our collective conscience. I will again take up the matter with Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting them to speed up proactive moves to solve the problem,��� Mr Karunanidhi told reporters in Chennai.
His statement came after a meeting with political leaders, including PMK founder S Ramadoss, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol Thirumavalavan and Dravida Kazhagam president Veeramani at his Gopalapuram residence over the Lankan Tamils issue.
Mr Ramadoss said countries like America, Japan and Norway had urged the Sri Lankan government to bring about a ceasefire and wanted to know why the Indian government did not come forward to issue such a statement. ���The UPA has violated the CMP. This is a sore issue for us as Tamils,��� he said. Mr Thirumavalavan said the UPA stands to lose ���a considerable percentage of votes in Tamil Nadu if it continued to ignore the Tamils��� cry for freedom���.
The Tamil Nadu government had made a ���tearful appeal��� to the Centre and suggested that external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee travel to Colombo to press for a halt of hostilities in Sri Lanka.
Mr Karunanidhi had lead an all party delegation to Delhi last month to meet the Prime Minister on the Lankan Tamils issue. The DMK had made it clear that it had drawn a line between the situation that existed before Rajiv Gandhi���s assassination and after it. In an apparent reference to his opponents, Mr Karunanidhi had said that some forces were dragging the name of the LTTE to ���divert our voice.���
The issue came up at the chief minister���s meeting with the Prime Minister last week when the former apprised Mr Singh of the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
Meanwhile, the CPM, AIADMK���s new ally, has also sought central intervention saying Tamils in Sri Lanka and the LTTE cannot be "equated". The Congress had been demanding action against those supporting LTTE under the pretext of espousing the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils following the current military offensive against the banned outfit in the island nation.
���The killing of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka has afflicted our collective conscience. I will again take up the matter with Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting them to speed up proactive moves to solve the problem,��� Mr Karunanidhi told reporters in Chennai.
His statement came after a meeting with political leaders, including PMK founder S Ramadoss, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol Thirumavalavan and Dravida Kazhagam president Veeramani at his Gopalapuram residence over the Lankan Tamils issue.
Mr Ramadoss said countries like America, Japan and Norway had urged the Sri Lankan government to bring about a ceasefire and wanted to know why the Indian government did not come forward to issue such a statement. ���The UPA has violated the CMP. This is a sore issue for us as Tamils,��� he said. Mr Thirumavalavan said the UPA stands to lose ���a considerable percentage of votes in Tamil Nadu if it continued to ignore the Tamils��� cry for freedom���.
The Tamil Nadu government had made a ���tearful appeal��� to the Centre and suggested that external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee travel to Colombo to press for a halt of hostilities in Sri Lanka.
Mr Karunanidhi had lead an all party delegation to Delhi last month to meet the Prime Minister on the Lankan Tamils issue. The DMK had made it clear that it had drawn a line between the situation that existed before Rajiv Gandhi���s assassination and after it. In an apparent reference to his opponents, Mr Karunanidhi had said that some forces were dragging the name of the LTTE to ���divert our voice.���
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The issue came up at the chief minister���s meeting with the Prime Minister last week when the former apprised Mr Singh of the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
Meanwhile, the CPM, AIADMK���s new ally, has also sought central intervention saying Tamils in Sri Lanka and the LTTE cannot be "equated". The Congress had been demanding action against those supporting LTTE under the pretext of espousing the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils following the current military offensive against the banned outfit in the island nation.
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