Be 'careful', Karuna to Centre on Indo-Lankan fishermen talks

"Central and state governments should be cautious and careful during the talks," Karunanidhi said

Charging Sri Lanka with not living up to its word on key issues, DMK today said the Central and Tamil Nadu governments should be "careful" during next week's talks between the fishermen association of the two countries and ensure attacks on Indian fishermen do not continue.

"Central and state governments should be cautious and careful during the talks. For, none can forget that Sri Lanka is a symbol of contradictions, as it speaks something and does something else," party chief M Karunanidhi said.

In a letter to partymen, he said that during the peak of conflict in 2009 in that country, Colombo "convinced" India and the world that it had ceased hostilities, "but had continued it and decimated the LTTE."

Further, during the post-war era, whenever President Mahinda Rajapakse spoke about the 13th Amendment to Sri Lankan Constitution, he had spoken of devolution of powers to Tamils, "but only things opposite" to that were happening, he said in an apparent reference to Lanka's reluctance to implement the India-backed plan.

Quoting Northern Province' Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran, Karunanidhi said Army was still in control in the formerly rebels-held area and that government employees were still going by the words of the local Governor, a former Lankan Major General.

Considering these, India should be careful during the January 20,2014 meeting between fishermen associations of the two countries and make sure Indian fishermen are not attacked anymore and lead their life peacefully, he said.