Make Lankan Tamils free: CPI to Centre

(October 22, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian)The Centre should raise the Sri Lankan Tamils issue in international fora and pressure the island government to immediately free those in concentration camps on the isle, CPI national secretary D Raja has said.

Speaking to reporters in Chennai, Raja said, ‘India has not brought up the issue in SAARC or UN, instead only supported the genocide and ethnic- cleansing in the neighbouring country.

He said that at this juncture, India should pressure the Lankan government to immediately free the Tamils in concentration camps and allow them to settle in their traditional areas. The ethnic issue should be solved politically through devolution of powers.

But, Raja said, the Lankan government was silent on it. ‘The Lanka government is only saying that it will rehabilitate Tamils soon, but it is not giving any assurance on devolution of powers to them,’ he said.

Asked for his view that India has not been raising the Tamils issue with Sri Lanka only to avoid Chinese influence on the matter, he wondered whether the Indian government had discussed about the issue with China to create a uniform opinion.

‘Sri Lanka and China had a good relationship and this should not be seen under present Tamil ethnic conflict,’ he said. He said the reports of Chinese aggression along the Indian border were exaggerated and the relation between the two countries was growing in terms of bilateral trade.

-Sri Lanka Guardian