Karuna deprecates PM's response to war crimes in SL

Continuing his tirade against India's participation in the Common Wealth Summit at Colombo, DMK Supremo M Karunanidhi today deprecated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's response to the alleged war crimes by Sri Lanka unlike the strong stand spelt out by Britain.

Though Singh skipped the meet without declaring the reason for such a decision, India which was represented by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid's team did nothing on Tamils issue unlike British Prime Minister David Cameron, who set March deadline for Sri Lanka to complete probe into human rights violations, he said.

People of Tamil Nadu had expected such a decision from Singh also, Karunanidhi said in a letter to partymen titled "The England Prime Minister and Our Prime Minister".

He took a dig at Khurshid for his failure to visit Tamil speaking areas as was done by Cameron and added "the only highlight of CHOGM was the global attention received by Cameron, whom now finds a place in the hearts of Tamils living all over the world including in Tamil Nadu".

"The same accolade and adulation would have been available to Indian Prime Minister also. (you) know when? If India had announced that not just Prime Minister but even a speck from India will not participate in the event," he said.

"Such a decision by India would have resulted in unanimous appreciation by Tamils while Singh would have garnered global attention", Karunanidhi said.

The Tamil community would have thanked Singh had he informed his Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse that he was not attending the CHOGM protesting against atrocities against Tamils or India had warned of taking the lead in a UN body for a resolution on rights violation issue.

He pointed out that even China, Sri Lanka's 'friendly country,' had asked Colombo to make efforts to protect human rights, and asked "did our External Affairs Minister open his mouth."

Tamil Elam Supporters Organisation supported by DMK recently urged the Centre to demand an independent probe into alleged war crimes by Sri Lanka against ethnic Tamils.