Lanka Tamils issue: DMK threatens to pull out of UPA govt

Mounting pressure on the Centre on its demand to punish ‘war criminals’ in Sri Lanka, the Dravida Munnetra Kazahagam (DMK), one of UPA’s key allies threatened on Friday threatened to pull out its ministers from the Union Cabinet if its demand to bring in amendments to the US-backed resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva was not conceded. “The DMK will find it meaningless to continue in the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led Cabinet if our demand is not obliged to,” party chief M Karunanidhi said in a statement late on Friday. “While so many opinions on the resolution by the US are doing the rounds, the DMK insists on New Delhi bringing amendments to that motion, wherein those responsible for genocide are identified and an independent international probe is launched against the war-criminals within a specified time frame,” he said, reiterating the party’s demand. The DMK has been keeping up the pressure on New Delhi to vote in favour of the resolution. The Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO), which was revived by Karunanidhi last year, had launched a series of protests, including observing a dawn-to-dusk strike on March 12 to put pressure on the Centre on this issue. [caption id=“attachment_116950” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  M Karunanidhi is turning up the heat on the UPA government. AFP[/caption] The chorus for action against Sri Lanka grew stronger after pictures of slain LTTE chief Prabhakaran’s son’s cold-blooded killing appeared in the media. Also on Friday,  colleges in Tamil Nadu, which have become the hotbed of student protests against the Sri Lankan government, were ordered closed till further orders. A massive agitation, involving up to one crore students, had been planned for next week. Although there was no written communication in this regard to educational institutions or the media regarding closure of the colleges, government sources said that oral instructions had been issued asking colleges, mainly arts and science colleges, to close down till further orders. Student groups have been holding a series of protests including hunger strike pressing for demands including an independent probe against Colombo for alleged war crimes. Intensifying their protests, a student body had on Thursday announced that it would hold a relay slogan-raising protest involving about one crore students on March 20. Dinesh, Coordinator of Federation of Students for Liberation of Tamil Eelam, said that students would boycott classes that day and that they planned to rope in school students as well. Students of Chennai-based Loyola College had begun a fast-unto-death last week demanding an independent probe against the Sri Lankan Government for alleged war crimes; more and more students joined in the protests through the week. Some student bodies have also called for a referendum for Tamil Eelam or a separate homeland for Tamils. In Coimbatore in southern Tamil Nadu, Bharathiar University was indefinitely closed from Friday in the wake of growing participation of students in the anti-Sri Lanka protests. The administration asked its students to vacate hostel rooms, university sources said. Over 300 students, including some law students, had been on a fast in recent days. Two students, on a fast-unto-death in the MDMK office at Coimbatore, were hospitalised. About 100 activists were arrested for trying to stage an agitation near the General Post Office in Coimbatore. They burnt effigies of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and others, police said. Also,  the wholesale vegetable supplier to Chennai, the Koyambedu Market, will down shutters on March 19 in solidarity with the Sri Lankan Tamils. A statement from the Chennai Koyambedu Vegetable-Fruits-Flower Vendors Federation said that shops in the market would be closed on March 2o to protest the killing of innocent Tamils by the Rajapakse Government in the final phase of the Eelam war. Sources in the market, billed as the biggest wholesale outlet in Asia, told PTI that trade to the volume of around Rs 150 crore will be affected with nearly 6,000 shops scheduled to remain closed for a day. Congress discusses issue In New Delhi, the  issue of Sri Lankan Tamils and India’s vote at the UNHRC figured in the meeting of Congress top brass including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party President Sonia Gandhi. The meeting, to which External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid was called, took place at a time when the government is working on its stand on a proposed UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka. Making a statement in Rajya Sabha in the wake of demands made by DMK and AIADMK that India should support the US- sponsored resolution on killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka and holding of an independent inquiry, Khurshid said that there should be accountability besides an “impartial, independent and transparent” probe into allegations of atrocities on Tamils. He said the process for a decision on the resolution was under way and that India has already started engaging with other countries to finalise its view on it. PTI