Jayalalithaa moves resolution on boycotting CHOGM
October 24, 2013 12:01 pm
Tamil Nadu has asked the
Centre to boycott the Commonwealth meet in Colombo next month over Sri Lanka’s
alleged war crimes against Lankan Tamils and the arrest of fishermen from the
state for straying into Lankan waters.
The Jayalalithaa government today moved a
resolution in the assembly stating that India should boycott the Commonwealth
Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo, which is expected to be endorsed by all
parties.
“India should act to suspend Sri Lanka from Commonwealth
till Tamils are given equal rights,” said the resolution, asking the Centre to
convey this to Colombo.
All major parties in the
state, including the DMK and Jayalalithaa’s ruling AIADMK, have been asking the
Centre to take a strong stand against “genocide” of its ethnic Tamils in the
war that ended when defence forces vanquished the separatist Tamil Tigers in
2009.
Tension with Colombo peaked over the arrest of
more than 100 fishermen, many of them from Tamil Nadu. They face trial for
entering Sri Lankan waters.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister GL Peiris had
recently hand-delivered a personal invitation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
to attend the Commonwealth meet, and expressed hope that India will be
represented “at the highest level” for the summit.
With a string of state polls and the national
election due by May, the Prime Minister has to weigh the domestic fallout of a
trip to Colombo with Tamil Nadu parties accusing his government of not doing
enough to hold Sri Lanka accountable for alleged war crimes and human rights
atrocities during the final phase of the island’s civil war which ended in May
2009, with the army defeating the rebel Tamil Tigers or LTTE.
In March, the regional powerhouse DMK quit Dr
Singh’s coalition. Leaders of the Tamil Nadu party said that at a session of
the UN on human rights in Geneva, India had failed to indict Sri Lanka of “genocide.”
Human rights organisations and sections of the
Tamil diaspora across the world have accused the Sri Lankan army of indiscriminately
killing over 40,000 unarmed civilians, a charge Colombo has vehemently denied. (NDTV)
