Now,Jaya backs Lankan Tamils cause

Seeking to send the right signals on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue ahead of the general elections,AIADMK chief and former CM J Jayalalithaa.....

Seeking to send the right signals on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue ahead of the general elections,AIADMK chief and former CM J Jayalalithaa extended her support to the demand for an autonomous state for Tamils within the State of Sri Lanka,even as she denounced the armed struggle by the LTTE for a separate nation.

Speaking during the inauguration of a day-long protest fast organised by the AIADMK and supported by its alliance partners,the Left parties and the MDMK,Jayalalithaa said,the Tamils in Sri Lanka should be treated as equals to the Sinhalese population in all ways,including equal opportunity in education and employment.

She,however,sought to differentiate the demand for a separate state from the demand for a separate country,raised by the LTTE over the years,and pointed out that the armed struggle in Sri Lanka had lost its sense of direction,endangering the lives of thousands of civilians.

The struggle of Lankan Tamils is much more than the Tigers,it also includes the innocent civilians who have not turned to arms, she said,separating her support to the cause from the LTTEs support.

One of the fallouts of this armed struggle was witnessed on the Indian mainland when former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Tamil Nadu in 1991,said Jayalalithaa,who recently made an unsuccessful attempt to wean the Congress away from the DMK camp.

The UPA at the Centre and the DMK in Tamil Nadu are not sincere about helping the Tamils, she said,adding that Mondays protest fast would send a message to the Lankan Government and also to the Tamil civilians.

If Karunanidhi was genuine about his much-publicised concerns for the Tamils in Lanka,by now he could have ensured ceasefire,apart from distributing relief material and extending help to the civilians there, she said.

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The AIADMK chief also accused the present Government at the Centre of playing a role in the death of Tamil civilians by continuing its supply of arms and ammunitions to the Lankan Army,apart from training its personnel for its war against the LTTE.

Jayalalithaas decision to go on a fast has come as a breather to her alliance partners,especially the MDMK and CPI.

Criticising Jayalalithaas new found love for the Lankan Tamils,CM and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi said it was due to the upcoming elections. He recalled some of her earlier statements on the issue. While she was criticising the state and the Centre,she herself had spoken strongly against Indias intervention in the internal affairs of another country, Karunanidhi said.