Tamil Nadu united against Sri Lanka

Tamil Nadu’s political parties reacted angrily to the Sri Lankan airstrike on a children’s home which killed 51 schoolgirls and wounded 150 more last Monday.

The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly last Thursday passed a resolution condemning the killings.

The Speaker, R Avudiayappan, brought the condolence resolution, and expressed shock and grief over the Vallipunam killings.

The House unanimously passed the resolution, characterising the attack as “uncivilised and inhumane act” of the Sri Lankan military.

M Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister (CM) of the south Indian state condemned the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing, describing it as an “atrocious and inhumane act.”

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state, home to 60 million Tamils in India, urged the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, to pressure the Sri Lankan government to hold talks to settle the conflict peacefully and stop killing innocent Tamils.

“There should be a full stop to such incidents which cannot be forgiven... There cannot be two opinions on this,” Chennai Online reported Chief Minister Karunanidhi as saying.

Meanwhile, the opposition MDMK Floor Leader M Kannappan urged the Tamil Nadu Government to convince the Centre to invite the Tamil parliamentarians from NorthEast Sri Lanka, and to send an Indian delegation consisting of Tamil Nadu MPs to Sri Lanka.

This Monday, Karunanidhi appealed to political parties in the state not to indulge in any “siblings’ war” over the cause of Tamils from Sri Lanka.

“Now the war is against the Sinhala racist forces,” Karunanidhi said, adding that in the war against Sinhala dominance, there may be competition in redeeming the lives of Tamils, but there should be no “infighting among the brothers”.

“When we want them (Lankan Tamil groups) to be united, we should also follow the same,” the DMK leader said.

The DMK patriarch made his appeal on the floor of the assembly, ahead of a public meeting by MDMK leader Vaiko, called to “focus on the protection of the Sri Lankan Tamils”.

The appeal follows several days of acrimonious spat between Vaiko, whose party is a splinter group of the DMK, and Karunanidhi, with each leader calling the other a liar.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) urged the Centre to take action, at political and diplomatic levels, for facilitating resumption of peace talks between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Deploring the recent attacks on civilians, he exhorted the international community to play a positive role in providing humanitarian assistance to the affected persons.

Meanwhile Pondicherry’s AICC, which last month urged Delhi to impose a ban on political parties and movements supporting the LTTE also joined the chorus of outrage.

AICC General Secretary, V Narayanasamy, called on India’s central government to condemn the “assault the Sri Lankan Army had been inflicting on innocent Tamils” in the island.

Talking to reporters here, Mr. Narayanasamy said the Tamils, facing an “insecure situation and mayhem” in Sri Lanka, had been moving out of the country and were coming as refugees to India and particularly to Tamil Nadu.

The Pataly Makkal Katchie (PMK), an ally of the DMK led Tamil Nadu government said the Sri Lankan government must take full responsibility for the renewal of war in the island.

PMK President Ramadass charged that the Sri Lankan government is pretending to be interested in peace in order to convince India and obtain military weapons. “The Indian government must avoid collusion in such activities.”

Dr. Ramadas also appealed to the international community to condemn the Sri Lankan state for killing its own citizens.

Referring to reports of India’s proposal to send essential food items by ships to Colombo on humanitarian grounds, Dr. Ramadas expressed doubts whether they will safely reach the suffering Tamil masses in the peninsula by-passing pilfering by the Sinhala army.

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