Act against SL, Karunanidhi tells UPA

16 March 2013 09:34 am Views - 2930

DMK chief M. Karunanidhi today pressed the central government to take a tough line against Sri Lanka at the upcoming UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meet in Geneva.

The former Tamil Nadu chief minister said it was important for India to bring in amendments to the US-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka in Geneva to demand a probe into "war crimes" in the island nation.

Last night, Karunanidhi had said: “India should take steps to amend the American resolution and include the war criminals responsible for the genocide (of Tamils) in Sri Lanka are identified, a free international enquiry held against them and appropriate action be taken against those found guilty.”

“If this request is not heeded, it will be meaningless for the DMK to continue in the central government,” he had added.

However today, he admitted the central government had not responded to his threat on Friday.

“We have given the necessary pressure,” he had stated. But he had also added that the DMK had not given any deadline for the central government to spell out its stance in Geneva, where the US sponsored resolution critical of Sri Lanka will come up for vote this month.

India is one of the 47 countries who are members of the current UNHRC. Last year India voted in favour of a similar resolution that berated Sri Lanka for rights abuses and more.

The DMK, with 18 Lok Sabha members, is a key constituent in the central government. It has five members in Prime Minsiter Manmohan Singh's council of ministers.

Sri Lanka is under attack over the death of a large number of Tamil civilians during the end stages of the war that crushed the Tamil Tigers in 2009. (IANS/NYDailyNews)