The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday urged the Centre to move a resolution in the United Nations Security Council seeking various measures against Sri Lanka, including a referendum on creation of Eelam.
Considering the future of Sri Lankan Tamils, such a referendum should be held among Tamils living in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, says the resolution, which the House adopted unanimously through a voice vote after it was moved by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
At the time of its adoption, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) members were not present as they were evicted earlier. The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, the principal Opposition, has been boycotting the House to protest the suspension of six of its members.
Independent inquiry
Urging the Centre to stop calling Sri Lanka a “friendly nation,” the Assembly demanded that an independent international inquiry be conducted into “genocide” and “war crimes” committed in the final phase of the Eelam War in 2009; those found guilty be produced before an international court and given appropriate punishment; and till the Sri Lankan government stopped repression of Tamils, an economic embargo be imposed on the island nation.
Coming down heavily on the Centre government for its approach to the issue, Ms. Jayalalithaa said that even though two years had gone by since the Assembly adopted a resolution (which had demanded, among others, that the government impose economic sanctions on Sri Lanka), the Centre had done nothing.
In her speech during the debate on the Governor’s address last month, she appealed to the Centre to get a resolution passed at the United Nations Human Rights Council on the basis of the 2011 Assembly resolution, but the government, which comprised the DMK, did not bother about it.
In the early part of a debate on a special call attention motion on the student protests in the State, DMK MLAs, led by M.K. Stalin, staged a walkout, protesting against what they called the Speaker’s refusal to allow their colleague to complete his submission.
