Condemn Lanka, Jaya writes to PM

CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday urged the Centre to support the US-backed Resolution—raising issues of accountability with regard to the final stages of the civil war in the island nation, involving rights violations—when it comes up for voting in the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva during March.“We insist that India should support the US backed Resolution and strongly condemn Sri Lanka when the same is brought forward in UNHRC,” Jayalalithaa said in her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.Referring to reports where Sri Lanka expressed hope that India would support it when the US-backed Resolution comes up for voting, the CM recalled the Resolution adopted by the Tamil Nadu State Assembly on June 8, 2011 urging the Centre to take up the issue of war crimes with the UN, and to declare those found guilty of atrocities against Lankan Tamils as war criminals. Jayalalithaa said she was under the impression that the Centre was pursuing action positively on TN’s Resolution. The CM also pointed out that the Resolution had also requested the Centre to initiate action by working with other nations to impose an economic embargo on the Sri Lankan government until the time Lankan Tamils living in camps in that country are resettled and rehabilitated and are allowed to live with dignity, self-respect and equal Constitutional rights, on par with the Sinhalese.