Allow UN Team To Stay In Chennai And Conduct Inquiries: PMK

 

 PMK chief S Ramadoss on Sunday said India's decision not to extend support to a UN probe into the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka is shocking.

The PMK is an ally of the ruling BJP.

Ramadoss said India should allow the UNHRC team to stay in Chennai and conduct the inquiry in the wake of Sri Lankan parliament's recent resolution not to allow the probe team into the country.

Ramadoss was reacting to media reports that external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had told her Sri Lankan counterpart, GL Peiris, that the Modi government would uphold the objections to a UN probe that India articulated in April while abstaining from a vote against Colombo.

"We feel that international bodies need to address human rights concerns in a cooperative manner with the countries concerned, and not in a punitive manner," foreign ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said after the meeting between Sushma and Peiris in Delhi on July 11.

Ramadoss said, "It is regrettable that the foreign minister and the official spokesperson assured the Sri Lankan government that the Indian government would follow the previous UPA government's stand."

When the previous government took a neutral stand on voting for a UN probe, political parties in Tamil Nadu opposed it, according to him.

Countries, including the US, England and Canada, had been demanding an independent international inquiry against Sri Lanka, Ramadoss said.

Even five years after the end of the civil war, the Sri Lankan government had not taken any action against the war crime accused. Instead, the government had been inflicting suffering on the Tamils with the help of the armed forces, he alleged. (Times of India)