First DMK, then Jayalalithaa protest Commonwealth meeting in Colombo

Chennai: Hours after her rival, the DMK, urged the Centre to ensure the cancellation of a meeting of Commonwealth country leaders in Sri Lanka, J. Jayalalithaa has demanded the same. The Tamil Nadu chief minister wrote to the Prime Minister, warning that if the meeting is held in Colombo from 15-17 November, it will embolden Sri Lanka.

All major parties in Tamil Nadu, including the DMK and Jayalalithaa’s ruling AIADMK, have been asking the Centre to take a strong stand against Sri Lanka’s “genocide” of its ethnic Tamils in the final few months of the civil war that ended when defence forces vanquished the separatist Tamil Tigers in May 2009.

The issue is so central in Tamil Nadu politics that last week, the DMK pulled out of the Prime Minister’s coalition, accusing India of watering down a UN resolution that was adopted last week, recommending that Sri Lanka credibly investigate alleged war crimes.

India voted against Sri Lanka, but the DMK and the AIADMK said it had let down Sri Lankan Tamils by failing to persuade the UN to use stronger language against the island nation and by not pushing for an independent rather than an internal inquiry. (NDTV)