Call for boycotting Commonwealth meet

The DMK and the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Monday urged the Centre to boycott the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in Colombo which is to be held from November 15 to 17.

An emergency meeting of the DMK’s Executive Committee, which met here under the chairmanship of the party patriarch M Karunanidhi, unanimously asserted that “it was neither appropriate nor acceptable” for the CHOGM meet to be held in Sri Lanka, where the government was “responsible for genocide” against the Tamils and continuing its atrocities against the Tamil people”.

“India should boycott the CHOGM meet in Colombo to hold aloft democratic values and reflect the sentiments of the Tamils worldwide,” the party said.

The DMK also adopted a resolution condoling the death of slain LTTE chief V Prabhakaran’s 12-year-old son Balachandran.

However, the party was otherwise soft on the UPA government. Interestingly, M K Alagiri, who just resigned from the Cabinet and seen off late to be somewhat Congress-friendly, skipped Monday’s meet on health grounds.

Meanwhile, AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister J Jayalalitha, in a separate letter to the prime minister wrote about the “widespread disappointment” at India’s recent stand at UNHRC, which fails to call for an international enquiry into Sri Lankan regime’s “war crimes” or even to condemn its “genocide”.

She said holding the next CHOGM meet in Colombo would amount to endorsing the present regime in Sri Lanka that stood accused of committing genocide against the Tamils there.

“India should exert diplomatic pressure to get the CHOGM meet venue shifted to another country,” said Jayalalitha.