CHENNAI, Mar 17:
After threatening to withdraw his Ministers from the Centre, DMK chief M Karunanidhi today went a step further warning that his party will pull out altogether from the ruling alliance if it failed to move amendments to the US-sponsored resolution on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue at the UNHRC.
The DMK, a key ally of UPA with 18 Lok Sabha members, insists that India pushes for amendments to the resolution against Sri Lanka to incorporate its demand for an international probe and time-bound action against those found guilty of war crimes in Sri Lanka.
The resolution will come up for voting at the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva on March 21.
Close on the heels of his Friday’s warning of pulling out DMK Ministers from the Government, Karunanidhi shot off letters to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, saying he feels “let down” by the “lukewarm” response of the Government.
“If our demands are not met, it is doubtful whether our ties with the alliance (UPA) will continue…It won’t continue is sure,” Karunanidhi told reporters here.
Addressing a hurriedly convened press meet here, the 88-year-old leader said irrespective of the US accepting India’s amendments or not, New Delhi should move them at the UN human rights body in Geneva.
The US-sponsored motion puts Sri Lanka on the mat over alleged war crimes and human rights violations against Tamil civilians during the last phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The UN body had adopted a similar US-backed resolution last year with the support of India which asked Colombo to make rapid progress on reconciliation with the ethnic Tamils.
To a question, Karunanidhi said none from the Centre had contacted him after he had warned of his party quitting the Government.
DMK, an ally of UPA since 2004, has one Cabinet Minister and four junior ministers in the Manmohan Singh ministry.
Seeking to reach out to the DMK, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said India should support the US resolution against Lanka if it called for an independent and reliable probe into the alleged war crimes in the island nation in 2009.
As DMK stepped up the heat, Government today said during the ongoing UNHRC meet in Geneva, India has stressed for credible probe into alleged rights violations in Sri Lanka.
In Farukkabad on the sidelines of an event on Saturday, external Afairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, “We are not politicising the matter, we want the Sri Lankan Government to help Tamils recover from their wounds. We feel there should be a transparent probe.”
Striking an optimistic note, Chidambaram said there will be “good news” and people should wait till next week.
“There will be good news, good news. Maintain patience till then,” he said.
In identical letters to Singh and Sonia Gandhi faxed last night, the DMK chief insisted that the Government should bring in amendments to declare that “genocide and war crimes had been committed and inflicted on Eelam Tamils by Sri Lankan Army and the Administrators” and seek a credible and independent international commission to probe human rights violations.
“I am writing this letter with immense mental agony and feeling of having been let down by the Government of India,” he said and hoped the Centre would take immediate steps to assuage the feelings of entire Tamil community by getting the amendments incorporated in the resolution.
Karunanidhi said he was constrained to write to them in view of the “volatile situation” prevailing in the State.
He said there was a feeling of “injustice” among the Tamils in the context of the “lukewarm response of the Government of India to the entreaties made by the various sections of Tamil community in general and students community in particular across the State.”
With DMK upping the ante, Government sought to placate its regional ally with Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy on Saturday saying a final decision on the US resolution will be taken keeping in mind the emotions of people of Tamil Nadu.
DMK has been focussing on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue ever since it revived last year the Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO), floated by Karunanidhi in the 1980s, and has stepped up pressure on the Centre to act against Sri Lanka. (PTI)
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