Selling warships to Sri Lanka an insult: Jayalalithaa

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Chennai: TN Chief minister J. Jaya­la­li­thaa on Wednesday dema­nd­ed that India should refrain from selling warships to Sri Lanka. Such a sale would be insensitive to the strong sentiments in Tamil Nadu holding Colombo responsible for the war crimes during the closing stages of the Eelam war and also the post-conflict discrimination of the Tamil minorities in the island, she averred. Worse still, the Lankan Navy would use the warships against poor Indian fishermen."I shudder to even countenance such an insult to the people of Tamil Nadu", she told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a letter, copies of which were released to the media.The CM said she had been following media reports on the proposed sale of two warships by India to Sri Lanka. But given the strength of the public sentiment in Tamil Nadu, she was quite sure that India would not supply any military hardware to Sri Lanka, "particularly naval ships which could be potentially deployed against Indian fishermen in the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar".But now she was shocked to see media reports quoting Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office (V Narayanasamy) confirm that India was in the process of supplying two warships to Sri Lanka."While the Minister of State appears to have indicated that he would communicate to the Prime Minister the strength of the emotions and feelings amongst the people and political parties in Tamil Nadu against any such move, what amazes me is that the Government of India could even contemplate such a move",  Jayalalithaa said in anguish.She pointed out to the PM that she had written numerous letters revealing the "deep and widespread sentiment" in Tamil Nadu regarding Colombo’s war crimes and its discrimination against Tamils.Centre insensitive to TN sentiment: CM
Centre insensitive to TN sentiment: CMChief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday expressed anguish at the Centre continuing to pursue a Lanka policy demonstratively insensitive to the public sentiment in Tamil Nadu.Writing to the Prime Minister on the latest provocation — the proposal to sell two warships to Sri Lanka — she said, “Even if there is a commitment under an old agreement for such supply of warships, in the present circumstances, the Government of India ought to have cancelled such an agreement.”Recalling that she had in numerous letters to him had informed him about the strong sentiments amongst all sections of society and shades of political opinion in Tamil Nadu about the need to hold Colombo to account for war-time violations and post-war discrimination against the Tamil minorities in the island, Ms Jayalalithaa said the TN Assembly had passed “a historic resolution” demanding that India should stop terming Sri Lanka as a ‘friendly nation’.There had been protests in Tamil Nadu against India training Lankan military personnel and they were even sent back. Not only has Colombo not responded positively to international pressure but also has intensified actions to deprive Tamils of even their limited political rights by proposing to dilute the 13th Amen­dment.Besides, in step­ped-up drive against the fishermen of Tamil Nadu, 97 of them continue to languish in Lankan prisons, the chief minister pointed out.Against such a distressing backdrop, the media reports about the Indian proposal to sell two warships to Sri Lanka and its confirmation by Minister of Stte in the PMO, V. Naray­anasamy, has agonised her and angered all the Tamil people. Any move to supply military hardware to Sri Lanka would be the “most telling statement on the insensitivity of the government of India to the strong sentiments in Tamil Nadu.”“Far from holding the Sri Lankan regime acco­untable for its genocide as any champion of democratic values should, the government of India’s action would be seen as collaborating with the regime and providing necessary wherewithal to act even more strongly not only against the Tamils in Sri Lanka but also against poor Indian fishermen,” Ms Jayalalithaa told the Prime Minister while urging him to cancel any move to sell warships to Sri Lanka.