NEW DELHI: As Tamil Nadu MPs disrupted Parliament on the issue of Sri Lankan war crimes on Tuesday, Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee stated that India did not traditionally support any “country-specific” resolution.“What view will be taken on this issue will be determined as and when the time is finalised in respect of the meeting of the UN Human Rights Council,” said Mukherjee.He added that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had written to both TN Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and DMK chief M Karunanidhi in reply to their letters.Although the Lok Sabha went back to work, the Rajya Sabha was eventually adjourned for the day, with MPs of DMK and AIADMK asserting that the matter be taken up because voting in Geneva would be in two days. “Sir, the moral responsibility first lies with the Indian Government... We want an assurance that India will support that Resolution in Geneva,” said DMK’s Tiruchi Siva. CPI’s D Raja said India, as Sri Lanka’s neighbour, should have moved the resolution, not the US.AIADMK’s V Maitreyan demanded that the Prime Minister, who was present in the House, answer whether India would support the US-backed resolution. While CPI(M)’s T K Rangarajan suggested that the Lankan government form a panel including Tamil MPs to go into the war crimes allegations, BJP’s M Venkaiah Naidu noted that there had to be a credible inquiry, acceptable to Sri Lankan Tamils. TN Congress chief B S Gnanadesikan’s statement that while supporting the Geneva resolution “we must also maintain that relationship (with Colombo) because unless we maintain that relationship, we can’t reach out to the Tamil population in North and East Sri Lanka”, drew strong protest from the DMK and Opposition benches.Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal tried to placate the MPs saying the External Affairs Minister was out of the country and would make a statement on Wednesday, but in vain. There were three adjournments with Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K Rehman Khan noting that the House cannot force the government to make a statement. Post lunch disruptions forced Khan to adjourn the House for the day.Outside the two chambers, TN’s seven Congress MPs met with the PM for about 15 minutes and handed over a letter saying the government “should supplement the ongoing efforts by the US…” The matter is expected to rock Parliament on Wednesday too after Krishna’s statement. The DMK, as well as the CPI, have already given notice to the chairs of both the Houses for suspension of question hour.
Comments
0 comment