Opposition disappointed with govt response over Sri Lanka

Expressing anguish over the plight of displaced Sri Lankan Tamilians, the opposition today accused India of helping in the "genocide" there.

The BJP, Communist Party of India (CPI) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) criticised India's response to the Sri Lankan forces' handling of the conflict leading to over three lakh people landing in the camps.

Responding to a government statement on the recent developments in northern Sri Lanka in the Rajya Sabha, BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said, "We are thoroughly disappointed with the government's response to the plight of Tamils."

Naidu said his party was committed to the sovereignty of the neighbouring country and had no sympathy for Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

"If anybody thinks that the LTTE is gone and the problem is solved they are sadly mistaken... One can win a war but lose peace," he said, at the same warning that the issue may revive unless a political solution is found.

Deploring the "horrible" conditions in the camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the BJP leader asked why Sri Lankan government was not allowing international media access to these camps.

D Raja (CPI) accused the government of helping the Sri Lankan Army, which he said went in for a full scale war and "genocide" of the Tamil linguistic minority.

"Government of India assisted that war. It sent two naval ships. It should explain what was the compulsion. I accuse the government of having supported such a war," he said. Raja said the hot pursuit by Sri Lankan forces around May this year was a genocide. "Several parties in the UPA coalition have also called it genocide," he added.

He said on the one side, the government gave assistance to Sri Lankan Army and on the other it is supporting resettlement of the displaced. "What is your policy."

Raja said when the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) refused financial aid to Sri Lanka on the ground of human rights violation, the Indian prime minister proposed that his country was there to assist it. He said that India should recast its policy towards Sri Lanka.

"You plead helplessness in the statement asking our fishermen not to venture deep. The hands-off policy must end. Government should play a pro-active role," he said.

Accusing the government of giving a "rosy picture" of camps in Sri Lanka, the CPI leader said," these are nothing but concentration camps like in the Hitler regime. They are open air jails."

He said young men and women have disappeared. "How did it happen. Our government should ask. Is it their fault that they are born as Tamilians," he asked.

Raja also demanded reopening of the Katchativu agreement of 1964 to restore the rights of Indian fishermen in the small island.

K Malaisamy (AIADMK) wondered why can't India being a large nation "arm-twist" Sri Lanka. "Government can even arm-twist them. India is such a large country," he said.