Why the DMK is still unhappy on Sri Lanka

Despite the UN Human Rights Council adopting a US-sponsored resolution on human rights violations in Sri Lanka yesterday, the DMK is still unhappy. “The resolution has been diluted, the government has failed”, said the DMK in remarks to media shortly after the resolution was moved in Geneva. “The formation of an international inquiry was a must to go into genocide, but this demand too has not been met”. [caption id=“attachment_666922” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Karunanidhi. Reuters[/caption] So, what does the DMK really want? The DMK wants the killings of Sri Lankan Tamil civilians in the final days of the war against the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to be declared a “genocide”. “Our demand is that the Indian government should declare that there was genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka and war crimes were committed against them,” DMK’s spokesperson TKS Elangovan had told reporters. He said, “Post-war, the Sri Lankan government has given some assurances to Indian government. The US resolution in the UN came only after that. We always wanted the Indian government to intervene and solve the issue.” Agreeing that the Sri Lankan Tamil problem will be a major issue in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Elangovan said the party will not be in a disadvantageous position because of that. On Monday, a crucial meeting between DMK chief M Karunanidhi with P Chidambaram, AK Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad to discuss 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. Speaking to reporters after meeting the three union ministers Karunanidhi said that he had told the three ministers that “the attack on Lankan Tamils by Sri Lanka should be declared as genocide”, adding that there should be a probe into the war crimes in Sri Lanka by a credible independent international body. Karunanidhi said a resolution containing the above should be passed in parliament. The resolution did not have any of the DMK demands, including the inclusion of the word ‘genocide’ and a demand for an international probe into rights abuses in the country.  DMK had demanded that the “genocide” of ethnic Tamils and the “war crimes” inflicted against them by Sri Lankan forces be included in the UN resolution, DMK leader Tiruchi Siva told reporters. Sri Lanka is under attack over the death of a large number of Tamil civilians during the final stages of the war that crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. Twenty-five countries, including India, voted in favour of the document in the 47-nation strong body. While 13 countries, including Pakistan, voted against, eight member-states abstained from voting on the contentious resolution that saw political tremors in India with DMK pulling out of the UPA alliance and the government.