TN CM breaks 6hr fast as Lanka stops using heavy artillery

NEW DELHI: DMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi on Monday undertook a ���perfectly timed��� fast over the Lankan issue���six hours into the ���indefinite fast���, an announcement came from Colombo that it was ending heavy artillery action against Tamil Tigers to prevent civilian casualties. The chief minister called off his protest before lunch time, claiming victory.

DMK and Congress attempted to take credit and make political capital out of the Lankan government���s announcement. ���The fast has come to an end in view of the fact that the Sri Lankan government has announced an end to the war,��� said Mr Karunanidhi after his fast that was punctuated with emotive statements and appeals to call it off from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Congress reacted with equal enthusiasm to the DMK project. Home minister P Chidambaram translated the Sri Lankan government���s announcement as ���cessation of hostilities��� and said that the development was a ���result of the efforts that the government of India has been making over the last several days, especially in the last 72 hours���.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi went a step further saying ���no credit can be given to Jayalalithaa for the Sri Lankan decision���.

But even as DMK and Congress celebrated an ���end to the war��� in Lanka, Colombo rubbished statements coming out of Tamil Nadu saying that the end of combat operation did not translate into either a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities. The Rajapaksa government, which has been forced to take step under immense international pressure to prevent civilian casualties, said that it had ordered its security forces to stop using ���heavy guns, aerial weapons and combat aircraft��� and to start rescuing civilians from the 8-km strip still held by LTTE.

���The government has decided that combat operations have reached their conclusion. Our security forces have been instructed to end the use of heavy calibre guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons which could cause civilian casualties,��� the presidential secretariat said.

The Lankan government further said conclusion of combat operations should not be misinterpreted as a ceasefire. ���There is no ceasefire. The government will go ahead with their operation to get the civilians out of the ���no-fire zone���, who are being held hostage by the LTTE,��� Lakshman Hullagulle, director-general of the media centre for national security, was quoted as saying.

It was clear that the UPA government had prior knowledge of this development in Lanka as the Union home minister had announced on Saturday that there would be some developments within 24 to 48 hours.

Immediately, after the announcement from the Lankan government, the government here said the prime minister has approved Rs 100 crore as humanitarian relief assistance for Tamil civilians who evacuated from the conflict zone. External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, who made the announcement, called the development a first step by the Lankan government towards mitigating the humanitarian crisis.

���This is an important first step in addressing concerns for the safety and security of Tamil civilians and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) trapped in the conflict zone,��� said Mr Mukherjee and added that urgent steps needed to be taken to handle the humanitarian crisis.

The decision by the Lankan government came amid the visit of UN humanitarian chief John Holmes who was in Lanka to assess the scope of the humanitarian crisis and a day after LTTE announced a unilateral ceasefire, which was rejected by the government.