Tamil Nadu parties used the floor of the Rajya Sabha on Monday for seeking to dissuade Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from accepting Sri Lanka’s invitation to attend the CHOGM summit in November.
The AIADMK and the DMK made common cause to register their protest to coincide with the arrival here of Sri Lanka External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris to extend the invitation to the Prime Minister.
Raising the issue AIADMK leader V. Maitreyan urged the Prime Minister not to echo what Colombo expected of him but stand by the suffering Tamils in Sri Lanka. He said party president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had twice written to Dr. Singh on the issue but had not received any response from him.
He said participation at the meeting would amount to “endorsing” the human rights violation by the Sri Lanka government which the AIADMK leader described as an enemy country.
He said the Chief Minister had in her letters to the Prime Minister had outlined the sense of outrage prevailing in the State over the war crimes and genocide perpetrated there and the denial of equal rights to the Tamils living there.
He urged the Prime Minister to take a cue from Canada which had decided to stay away from it and that the Queen of England too would not be participating in the CHOGM.
Mr. Maitreyan hoped the Prime Minister would keep in mind the sentiments of the people and stay away from it.
Kanimozhi too appealed to the Prime Minister not to attend the summit and hoped India would not participate in the meeting. She said her party chief M. Karunanidhi too had appealed to world leaders to keep away from the meet or get the venue changed.
She said the plight of the fishermen too needed to be kept in mind while deciding on participation in the CHOGM in Sri Lanka.
