Govt 'lukewarm' on Sri Lanka, says DMK

With the resolution on Sri Lanka expected to come up at the UN later this week, UPA ally DMK today attacked the government saying it was "lukewarm" on this issue and pressed it to bring amendments to make it stronger.
A day after DMK chief M Karunanidhi threatened to walk out of UPA on the issue, party MP T Siva said in the Rajya Sabha, "The lukewarm response of the government of India to the plight of Tamilians is not healthy...I urge the government not only to support the resolution but also bring in effective amendments that are required to strengthen it."

Asking the UPA government to insist on creation of an independent and credible international inquiry to probe "war crimes" against ethnic Tamilians, Siva said his party chief has already written a letter to the Prime Minister on this.
V Maitreyan (AIADMK) alleged that the UPA government has been "silent and evasive" on the issue. He also slammed the comments of India's permanent representative at the UN saying "that statement is a betrayal of Tamils...It is nothing but stabbing the Tamils in the back".
He was taking objection to the statement in which India said "welcome progress" had been made by Sri Lanka in rehabilitation of the internally displaced people.

Both the Tamil Nadu parties as well as CPI wanted that the Indian government should not only support but also strengthen through amendments the US resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council.

The government is trying to placate DMK and has sent Union Ministers P Chidambaram, A K Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad to hold talks with Karunanidhi in Chennai.
Ridiculing the talks between Karunanidhi and the Congress ministers as a "deal between UPA Delhi and UPA Chennai", Maitreyan said any such thing will not be acceptable as the issue did not concern only these two.
D Raja (CPI) said government continues to remain "ambiguous". Asking the government to acknowledge what happened in Sri Lanka was genocide, Raja said, "Government should not hesitate to vote against Sri Lanka.