Tamil Nadu leaders, including Chief Minister of the state called on the Indian government to stop supplying weapons to the Sri Lankan state and assist in finding a last solution to decades long ethnic conflict.
Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi suggested that India organise negotiations between the warring parties in Sri Lanka to bring peace to the island nation.
"To bring about peace in Sri Lanka, the Union government should come forward to organise useful negotiations so that a proper political solution is thrashed out," he said in an interview to The Times of India.
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder-leader S. Ramadoss, also reflected similar sentiments when met the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
Ramadoss said he had also brought to Singh’s notice the genocide of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka.
“The Prime Minister sympathised with the plight of the Tamils and said the government would take all measures to restore peace and tranquility in Sri Lanka. India would not supply to Sri Lanka any arms and weapons which would be offensive in nature.”
He also drew the attention of Singh on the frequent "attacks" on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and asked the government to take measures to stop them.
The general secretary of Tamil Nadu’s Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Vaiko on Thursday met Indian Premier Manmohan Singh in Delhi and requested the Indian government to mount diplomatic pressure on the Sri Lankan government to stop its military offensive and initiate peace talks for a workable solution to fulfill the aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamils.
Vaiko met Indian PM to brief him on his meeting with Erik Solheim and Jon Hanssen-Bauer in Oslo and the outcome of the conference organised by the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) in Norway's capital last week.
Vaiko told the Prime Minister that the situation in Sri Lanka was becoming grave day by day, endangering the life and security of Tamils. Innocent Tamils were being killed by the military. He explained the plight and misery of Tamils living in jungles without food and medicine. While seeking the government’s intervention, he requested that India should not provide arms to Sri Lanka.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told Vaiko who met him Thursday in New Delhi that there is no truth in reports on Indian supply of arms to Sri Lanka.
Vaiko said the Prime Minister told him about India’s stand —that there could be no military solution to the problem. Singh assured him, saying: “We are not supplying arms to Sri Lanka. I will discuss the matter with the
Foreign Minister and see what best can be done.”
The MDMK leader also urged the Indian Prime Minister to prevail upon Colombo to abide by its earlier pledge to honor the contiguity of the traditional homeland of Tamil speaking people in a merged NorthEast.
He also brought the grave human rights situation in Sri Lanka, where Tamils are subjected to a systematic genocide, to the attention of the Indian PM.
He reminded the Indian PM on his earlier promise, in a meeting with him on March 10, 2007, to facilitate the transport of humanitarian supplies through the ICRC to Eelam Tamils who are heavily affected by the war and the blockade by the Government of Sri Lanka. The humanitarian supplies were collected from Tamils in Tamil Nadu.
Urging the Indian Prime Minister to take immediate steps to dispatch humanitarian supplies he also requested Mr. Manmohan Singh to withdraw the radar equipments supplied by India to the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), which has been responsible for many attacks on Tamil civilians. Many Tamil children have been killed and seriously injured in the attacks carried out by the SLAF, Vaiko told the Indian PM.
He later met the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee at his residence in Delhi.
Mukherjee told Vaiko that India had repeatedly reminded Colombo that military solution was not the option to solve the Tamil question.
Vaiko urged Mukherjee to prevail upon Colombo to cease all military hostilities as it was the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) which was responsible for the aggression.
Prior to his visit to Delhi, Vaiko was in Oslo attending a conference, titled "Peace and Reconciliation in South Asia," organized by the International Association for Human Values.
In Oslo, Vaiko met Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim and Jon Hanssen-Bauer, the Norwegian Special Envoy and held discussion relating to the ongoing ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
Expressing gratitude on behalf of the Tamils in India to the Royal Norwegian Government for its engagement as facilitator to the CFA and its continued interest in facilitating to resolve the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, his visit to Norway gave him a unique opportunity in bringing the concerns of more than 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu, to Norway.
The International Community should be made aware that the Norwegian facilitated CFA had collapsed as the Sri Lankan Government seriously violated the CFA, clause by clause, and systematically scuttled it fully, before unilaterally withdrawing from the ceasefire, he said.
The International Community, which had failed to apply timely pressure on the GoSL to honour the CFA, while the agreement was still in force, should now re-evaluate its approach to Sri Lanka based on the past experiences and adopt a strategy, which will result in restoring the diplomatic balance between the protagonists to the conflict so as to create and sustain a conducive environment for negotiations.
Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi suggested that India organise negotiations between the warring parties in Sri Lanka to bring peace to the island nation.
"To bring about peace in Sri Lanka, the Union government should come forward to organise useful negotiations so that a proper political solution is thrashed out," he said in an interview to The Times of India.
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder-leader S. Ramadoss, also reflected similar sentiments when met the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
Ramadoss said he had also brought to Singh’s notice the genocide of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka.
“The Prime Minister sympathised with the plight of the Tamils and said the government would take all measures to restore peace and tranquility in Sri Lanka. India would not supply to Sri Lanka any arms and weapons which would be offensive in nature.”
He also drew the attention of Singh on the frequent "attacks" on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and asked the government to take measures to stop them.
The general secretary of Tamil Nadu’s Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Vaiko on Thursday met Indian Premier Manmohan Singh in Delhi and requested the Indian government to mount diplomatic pressure on the Sri Lankan government to stop its military offensive and initiate peace talks for a workable solution to fulfill the aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamils.
Vaiko met Indian PM to brief him on his meeting with Erik Solheim and Jon Hanssen-Bauer in Oslo and the outcome of the conference organised by the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) in Norway's capital last week.
Vaiko told the Prime Minister that the situation in Sri Lanka was becoming grave day by day, endangering the life and security of Tamils. Innocent Tamils were being killed by the military. He explained the plight and misery of Tamils living in jungles without food and medicine. While seeking the government’s intervention, he requested that India should not provide arms to Sri Lanka.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told Vaiko who met him Thursday in New Delhi that there is no truth in reports on Indian supply of arms to Sri Lanka.
Vaiko said the Prime Minister told him about India’s stand —that there could be no military solution to the problem. Singh assured him, saying: “We are not supplying arms to Sri Lanka. I will discuss the matter with the
Foreign Minister and see what best can be done.”
The MDMK leader also urged the Indian Prime Minister to prevail upon Colombo to abide by its earlier pledge to honor the contiguity of the traditional homeland of Tamil speaking people in a merged NorthEast.
He also brought the grave human rights situation in Sri Lanka, where Tamils are subjected to a systematic genocide, to the attention of the Indian PM.
He reminded the Indian PM on his earlier promise, in a meeting with him on March 10, 2007, to facilitate the transport of humanitarian supplies through the ICRC to Eelam Tamils who are heavily affected by the war and the blockade by the Government of Sri Lanka. The humanitarian supplies were collected from Tamils in Tamil Nadu.
Urging the Indian Prime Minister to take immediate steps to dispatch humanitarian supplies he also requested Mr. Manmohan Singh to withdraw the radar equipments supplied by India to the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), which has been responsible for many attacks on Tamil civilians. Many Tamil children have been killed and seriously injured in the attacks carried out by the SLAF, Vaiko told the Indian PM.
He later met the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee at his residence in Delhi.
Mukherjee told Vaiko that India had repeatedly reminded Colombo that military solution was not the option to solve the Tamil question.
Vaiko urged Mukherjee to prevail upon Colombo to cease all military hostilities as it was the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) which was responsible for the aggression.
Prior to his visit to Delhi, Vaiko was in Oslo attending a conference, titled "Peace and Reconciliation in South Asia," organized by the International Association for Human Values.
In Oslo, Vaiko met Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim and Jon Hanssen-Bauer, the Norwegian Special Envoy and held discussion relating to the ongoing ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
Expressing gratitude on behalf of the Tamils in India to the Royal Norwegian Government for its engagement as facilitator to the CFA and its continued interest in facilitating to resolve the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, his visit to Norway gave him a unique opportunity in bringing the concerns of more than 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu, to Norway.
The International Community should be made aware that the Norwegian facilitated CFA had collapsed as the Sri Lankan Government seriously violated the CFA, clause by clause, and systematically scuttled it fully, before unilaterally withdrawing from the ceasefire, he said.
The International Community, which had failed to apply timely pressure on the GoSL to honour the CFA, while the agreement was still in force, should now re-evaluate its approach to Sri Lanka based on the past experiences and adopt a strategy, which will result in restoring the diplomatic balance between the protagonists to the conflict so as to create and sustain a conducive environment for negotiations.
