Karunanidhi slams war memorial in Sri Lanka

Karunanidhi

Chennai: Slamming the building of a victory memorial in northern Sri Lanka as an “uncivilised act” by the island government to “deliberately hurt” sentiments of Tamils, DMK chief M Karunanidhi today said such memorials would not help the peace efforts claimed to have been made by Colombo.

“The memorial and war museum are an uncivilised act of the Sri Lankan Government. These are not helpful to the peace efforts said to have been undertaken by the island government,” Mr Karunanidhi said in a statement.

Referring to reports about the memorial and a war museum near the place where the final phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) was fought in 2009, the DMK chief said it was painful to know that everyday hundreds of Sri Lankans visited the memorial, which had been “erected by the Rajapakasa Government with the deliberate intent to suppress Tamils.”

“The government has erected the memorial at the place, where LTTE fought for 30 years and where innocent Tamils were killed,” he said, wondering whether such actions were aimed at uniting and ensuring the rehabilitation of the ethnic people.

In order to apprise bodies like the United Nations and other international agencies about the truth (the situation in Sri Lanka), the recently held Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisations headed by him passed 14 resolutions, Mr Karunanidhi said, adding, they would be submitted to the UN by senior party leaders MK Stalin and TR Baalu by the end of this month.

He also questioned the Centre’s “silence” on a Sri Lankan Minister’s assertion that India would continue to impart training to defence personnel from the island nation.

“Certain actions of the Indian government give rise to suspicion whether it was only keen on ensuring that it was one among the neutral countries in the world,” Mr Karunanidhi added.

He also reiterated his party’s continued opposition to imparting military training to Sri Lankan personnel in India.

 

NDTV