Stop feud & work unitedly for rights: MK to Lanka Tamils

In a development that is certain to strain relations with Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi on Wednesday call-ed upon Tamil revolutionaries in the neighbourhood to stop feuding and asserting the rights of Tamils in the island nation.

While moving a resolution calling for a proactive role by India to end the ethnic strife in the island republic, the chief minister told the state assembly that the revolutionaries are more involved in killing each other. “Had the groups fought together, they would have succeeded by now, like the case in Nepal,” the chief minister said.

Coming down heavily against the infighting among armed Tamil groups in Sri Lanka, Mr Karunanidhi, without naming them, said their violent approach “weakened the Tamil cause” as they were more “determined in eliminating each other.” To drive home this point, the chief minister talked about the assassination of the Tamil United Liberation Front leader Amrithalingam by rival group.

“The inter-group fighting had left many dead which actually weakened the cause of Tamils,” he said adding armed struggle had failed to yield fruit in Sri Lanka while such movements had succeeded in other parts of the world.

The chief minister’s ‘replicate Maoists’ success against the Nepal monarchy’ call to Tamil groups is certain to vitiate India’s relations with Sri Lanka. The willingness to factor in the Tamil Nadu allies’ sensitivities in the nation’s Lanka policy has been bringing in lot of distractions in the past few years.

The call to ‘Tamil revolutionaries’ comes at a time when Tamil groups are engaged in a full-scale war against the Lankan government. Even peace negotiators like Norway have been expressing frustration over the deteriorating situation in the island nation. The Lankan government is also under attack over choosing the military option to settle the crisis.

Source: indiatimes