Rajapakse telephones Manmohan Singh, assures safety of Tamils, Singh harps on humanitarianism

By M Rama Rao India Editor, Asian Tribune
New Delhi, 18 October 2008 (asiantribune.com): As the shadow of Tamilnadu continues to loom large over Delhi, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday and assured him that all necessary measures were being taken to ensure the safety and well being of the Tamil community in the battle zone.

These remarks have brought smile to Karunanidhi, the DMK chief Minister of Tamilnadu, who is piling up pressure on Singh for ‘some action’ to protest against the military offensive in LTTE-held areas. At his behest, DMK Ministers in the Singh Cabinet and MPs have sent to him their ‘resignations’. Karunanidhi, who is locked in a game of one-upmanship with his bitter local rival Jayalalithaa Jayaram of AIADMK, has publicly asserted that India could intervene in the island just as it did in the erstwhile East Pakistan in 1971. Significantly, Delhi has not reacted to the demand.

The telephone call from Colombo came a day after the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon publicly express concern over the ‘humanitarian situation’ in Lanka and said India will do all ‘in its power’ to ensure a political settlement to the ethnic problem in the island nation.

A statement put out by the PMO said, Singh had conveyed to the President his deep concern’ on the ‘deteriorating’ humanitarian situation in the North of Sri Lanka, especially on the plight of the civilians caught in the hostilities. He emphasised that the safety and the security of these civilians must be ‘safeguarded at all costs’. The Indian leader told Rajapaksa to ensure ‘continued and uninterrupted’ relief supplies for the Internally Displaced Persons.

“President Rajapaksa assured the Prime Minister that all necessary measures are being taken to ensure the safety and well being of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka”, the statement added..

Sticking to the usual Indian refrain that there is no military solution to the ethnic conflict, Prime Minister Singh made it clear that the ‘rights and the welfare’ of the Lanka Tamil community should not get ‘enmeshed’ in the on-going hostilities against the LTTE. He also urged President Rajapaksa to start a political process for a peacefully negotiated political settlement within the framework of a united Sri Lanka. He emphasised the need to nurture the democratic process in the Eastern Province.

Though it is not immediately clear how long the conversation lasted, the Indian leader utilised the opportunity to touch upon the fishermen issue. The Tamil film fraternity is holding a rally in Rameswaram to express solidarity with the fishermen of the area who are at the receiving end of the SL Navy’s ire most of the time.

Prime Minister Singh asked the Sri Lankan leader to direct his Navy to ‘desist’ from firing on Indian fishermen. And reiterated that killing of fishermen is ‘unacceptable’. Both the Leaders agreed to work on ‘practical’ arrangements to prevent such incidents, the PMO statement said.

Only three days back, Wednesday, Manmohan Singh had said the situation in the island nation is a cause for ‘serious concern’ and advised asked Rajapaksa regime to find a negotiated settlement rather than looking for a ‘military victory’. He said India was concerned over escalating hostilities, losses suffered by civilians and increasing number of displaced persons in Sri Lanka.

Lankan High Commissioner C R Jayasinghe here was on Friday summoned to the Foreign office and told that Colombo should address New Delhi's concerns over the humanitarian situation and stop harassing and killing Indian fishermen. ‘Sri Lankan government should ensure that the rights of its civilians are respected and they are protected from attacks’, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told the envoy.

Chipping in, Minister of State for Defence M. M. Pallam Raju told reporters here Saturday: ‘We are conscious that we as a nation have to try and reduce the conflict and negotiate a proper settlement for Tamils living in Sri Lanka. Towards this end, the government and the Prime Minister are making their best efforts’.

Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Indian Institution of Bridge Engineers, Raju said: ‘The government and the country are very clear about the manner in which we should be involved in Sri Lanka’.

Asked about India's supply of defence equipment to Sri Lanka, the junior to the defence minister AK Antony replied: whatever is provided was purely for "self defence" of that country.

Raju said the government was concentrating its efforts on safeguarding human rights of Tamils in that country.

In an oblique reference to Pakistan and China factors on the Lanka scene, Pallam Raju said India is every step to guard its interests in the Indian Ocean Region. ‘We are clear that we should be the only nation who should be present in this region and we are guarding our interests in the Indian Ocean Region’, he was quoted as saying.

KARUNANIDHI HAPPY

The repeated assertions from Delhi in favour of negotiated settlement in Sri Lanka have brought cheer to Tamil Nadu chief minister. Writing in his DMK party organ "Murasoli", Karunanidhi said he found solace in the remarks of the Prime Minister; he hoped that the Centre would consider the ‘ultimatum’ given by DMK sponsored ‘all-party’ meeting in Chennai on Oct 14 that all MPs from the state would resign if the Centre did not take action within a fortnight.. Already 14 Lok Sabha members of the DMK and four Rajya Sabha members have submitted their post-dated resignation letters to him.

Karunanidhi voiced his anguish over the ‘plight’ of Sri Lankan Tamils, saying that the future of Tamil race has become a ‘question mark’. “I am unable to sleep, whenever I think of it. Let us save the Tamil race and its honour. Let us avoid the racial genocide in Sri Lanka at whatever price”, he wrote in Murasoli.

Congress party, which is an ally of the DMK, finds itself in a difficult situation over the DMK demand. Its local leaders attended the Oct 14 conclave and had publicly endorsed the Karunanidhi stand that all MPs and Ministers from the state should resign in two weeks.

The Congress has 10 MPs from Tamilnadu- one of them is the high profile Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

THANGKABALU SNUBBED

The state Congress President, K V Thangkabalu, who is also an MP, flew into Delhi on Saturday and held closed door discussions with the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He is understood to have a received a dressing down for openly siding with the DMK ultimatum. On the day DMK led conclave passed its ‘ultimatum’ itself, the Congress party here distanced itself from TN stand saying that India’s sovereignty doesn’t extend beyond its borders.

Now after meeting Pranab Mukherjee, Thangkabalu, also changed his tune. He said a decision on whether Congress MPs of Tamilnadu would resign over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue would be taken by the party High Command.

’A decision on whether the 10 Lok Sabha members belonging to the Congress party from Tamil Nadu will resign on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue will be taken by the High Command at an appropriate time’, he said.

He added that he had conveyed this line to the ‘all-party meeting’ also.

‘I conveyed the decision that day itself to the All-party meeting that as a national party, we cannot decide without asking the party High Command. But the Congress is committed to the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils’, said Thangkabalu, adding in the same breath, ‘as an individual he is ready to sacrifice his post anytime for the Sri Lankan Tamils cause.

The TN Congress chief described Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's telephonic conversation with President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a ’ positive step’ towards resolving the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka.

Thangkabalu also accused certain political outfits in Tamil Nadu of indulging in ‘false propaganda’ that India is supplying arms to the Sri Lankan Government to kill Tamils.
’The External Affairs Minister told me that India is not arming the Sri Lankan Government to kill Tamils. He also assured me that India is taking all possible steps to address the humanitarian problem of the conflict in Sri Lanka, particularly that concerning civilian Tamils,’ Thangkabalu said when asked about his meeting with Pranab Mukherjee.

He added the Congress is hopeful that the decisions taken at the highest level of the government will certainly bring tangible results in safeguarding the interests of the civilians in the island nation.

Answering a question, the Congress leader said, his party wants the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayewardene accord be implemented immediately. “It (the accord) will provide a lasting solution to the ethnic issue. We have been insisting the Sri Lankan government to implement the accord. But, unfortunately it is not being done”.

Observing that the Congress has all along supported the Sri Lankan Tamils cause and for their protection, livelihood and honourable settlement, he said, Congress Governments from Jawaharlal Nehru times to the present Manmohan Singh-led government have been taking number of initiatives to safeguard the interests of the civilian Tamils in the island nation.

-ASIAN TRIBUNE-