M A I N   N E W S

TN MPs threaten to resign
Stop killing of our fishermen, PM tells Lanka
Anita Katyal & Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 15
With MPs from Tamil Nadu threatening to resign en masse if the government did not come forward to ensure a ceasefire in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked Colombo to de-escalate hostilities and emphasised the need for a political solution to the ethnic crisis in the island nation which respects the rights of the minorities.

“We are concerned about the escalation in hostilities…we are concerned about the harassment and killings of Indian fishermen,” the Prime Minister told reporters here.

India, he said, had made representations to Sri Lanka over the situation in the neighbouring country. Only last week, national security adviser M.K. Narayanan had summoned Sri Lankan deputy high commissioner to India G.G.A.D Palithgenegoda and conveyed India’s concern over the ongoing military action in the island nation.

“We have always believed that the situation does not call for military victory but a negotiated political settlement that respects Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and human rights of ethnic Tamils,” Manmohan Singh said. The Prime Minister’s comments came a day after an all-party meeting in Chennai, convened by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, warned the Centre that all MPs from the state would resign in the event of the ceasefire not happening in the island nation within two weeks.

India is deeply concerned over the deteriorating situation in the island nation. Singh is understood to have discussed the matter with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and his top aides, including Narayanan.

Officials indicated that the government would again impress upon the Sri Lankan government at the top level the need to end military action that had caused hardships to the civilian population and led to an increase in the number of displaced people in the island nation.

UPA sources said the political parties in Tamil Nadu must also understand that India had its own limitations in dealing with the happenings in the island nation. “We are not dealing with a state in the country but with a sovereign nation,” a UPA leader said, while observing that the threat by Tamil Nadu MPs to resign was to largely rhetoric in nature though they are genuinely concerned over the harassment and killings of Indian fishermen.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said what was happening in Sri Lanka was a matter of grave concern. “The situation in Sri Lanka is agitating the minds of the people in Tamil Nadu. Their concerns have to be addressed,’’ he added.

The government, he said, was in touch with the Sri Lankan government over the situation in the neighbouring nation.