Karunanidhi wants resolution on SL genocide adopted in Parliament

DMK Supremo Karunanidhi has refused to back down from his hardline stance against Sri Lanka, and has said that he wants a resolution condemning the ‘genocide’ of Tamil people in the final stages of the war adopted in Parliament. The comments came after a crucial meeting between the DMK chief and three union ministers on the stand to be taken by India over the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka ended with no major decision being taken. Karunanidhi demanded that Parliament pass a resolution declaring that there was genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. [caption id=“attachment_666371” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Reuters[/caption] Defence Minister AK Antony, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad met Karunanidhi at his residence in Chennai. The meeting comes in the wake of Karunanidhi threatening that the DMK would withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government if it did not take steps to bring amendments to the resolution against Sri Lanka in the United Nations Human Rights Centre (UNHRC). He told reporters after the meeting that he had told the three ministers that “the attack on Lankan Tamils by Sri Lanka and those in the Lankan administration should be declared as war crimes and genocide”. He added there should be a probe into the war crimes in Sri Lanka by a credible independent international body and that a resolution containing the above should also be passed in parliament. After the meeting, Azad said a decision would be announced after discussing the deliberations of the meeting with Karunanidhi with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and consulting UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “I urged them to bring this amendment in the parliament and they have assured me on this”, said Karunanidhi. Azad said they had met Karunanidhi to discuss the changes to the US resolution suggested by him. The meeting discussed the issues raised by Karunanidhi in his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi wherein the DMK leader had said he wanted the resolution to declare that “genocide and war crimes had been committed and inflicted on Eelam Tamils by the Sri Lankan Army and the administrators”. Karunanidhi said India should strongly urge the establishment of a credible and independent international commission of investigation into the allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law and genocide against the Tamil people. The DMK has five members in the prime minister’s council of ministers. Meanwhile the latest media reports indicate that the US has turned up a significantly watered down second draft of the UN resolution against Sri Lanka. The Times Now channel reported that the new resolution asks for an independent investigation instead of an international inquiry into alleged war crimes and continuing human rights abuses. IANS