| by P. Sivakumaran
(October 30, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) New Delhi’s Congress parliamentarian Dr. Sudharshana Natchiappan who was leading a team of ‘international parliamentarians’ visiting Jaffna, was asked by news reporters, whether the visit was planned by India to bail out Colombo from war crimes accusations when a momentum is building up for international investigations of the crimes. The visit of the team brought by Natchiappan was timed for the Commonwealth Meet in Perth where war crimes of Sri Lanka and even its expulsion is a topic of discussion and was also timed for the US visit of the Tamil National alliance (TNA). The Indian Foreign Secretary supported Colombo to be the venue for the next Commonwealth Meet and rejected the idea of Commonwealth monitoring human rights and rule of law in the member countries. After being covert for some time, India once again openly props up genocidal Sri Lanka.
Anxiously denying the accusing question of the Jaffna reporters, Natchiappan said that he had not brought the international parliamentarians but they had come on their own wish.
But while answering other questions, Natchiappan conceded that he had brought the delegation to help ‘development’ in the North and East.
In answering another question, he also conceded that there are allegations about Congress parliamentarians being pro-Sinhalese.
The visit of the team led by Natchiappan enraged civil circles in Jaffna as its one-way meeting held at the Sri Lanka Government Agent’s office was only showcasing the ‘development’ in the occupied land of Lankan Tamils to the delegates.
The civil society and NGO participants of the meet felt that the purpose of the visit was to simulate a feeling among the delegates that there is ‘normalcy’ in the occupied Tamil land and everybody is bothered only about ‘development’.
When the Sri Lanka Government Agent in Jaffna, Mrs. Imelda Sugumar told the delegation about return of normalcy in Jaffna, she was interrupted and confronted by the Joint President of the NGOs in Jaffna, Mr. CVK Sivagnanam, citing the terror situation in Jaffna.
The NGO and business chamber representatives also accused India for failing to arrest the encroachment of Indian fishermen. Natchiappan cited ‘hearing’ about attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lanka Navy and was harping on fishermen of both sides talking on the issue.
When the business chamber representatives confronted him asking how could the encroachment take place without the joint connivance of the Navies of India and Sri Lanka, Natchiappan was silent.
Answering the questions of the news reporters after the meeting at the Sri Lanka Government Agent’s office, Natchiappan said that he had to lead the delegation to Jaffna, as the ten Tamil parties convened by him and met at New Delhi had failed to arrive at a consensus.
Confronting Natchiappan’s statement, TNPF stalwart Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam said that the Tamil parties that met at New Delhi had actually arrived at a consensus on the national question and when they were about to sign the document, intervening into the scene, Dr. Natchippan had told them that any declaration had to be ‘within the framework of the 13th Amendment.’ Thus the consensus failed to come in a document, Gajendrakumar said.
Talking to media, TNPF General Secretary S. Kajendren accused Dr. Natchiappan, a Rajya Sabha parliamentarian not popularly elected from Tamil Nadu, for scheming on behalf of New Delhi to disrupt Lankan Tamil polity polarizing into asserting to its right to self determination.
 New Delhi’s Congress parliamentarian Dr. Sudharshana Natchiappan who was le...){kind=link}
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