JOIN USDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President M Karunanidhi on Sunday took strong objection to the proposed meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Myanmar and said it was an act of ignoring the sentiments of Tamils and the people of Tamil Nadu.
Manmohan Singh leaves for Myanmar capital Nai Pyi Taw on Monday for the six-nation BIMSTEC meet on regional ties, in what could be his last foreign visit as prime minister, and also hold bilateral talks with its leadership.
"I cannot understand why the Indian Government and the Congress party have been indulging in such things", he said.
Asked about the proposed Manmohan Singh-Rajapaksa meeting at Myanmar, the DMK Patriarch expressed his unhappiness.
UN resolution
A miffed Karunanidhi said: “At a time when the demand for an independent international probe on war crimes and genocide of Tamils by Sri Lanka was growing and that Tamils and Tamil organisations are demanding that India should move a separate resolution in the forthcoming United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Meet at Geneva in this regard, the proposed meeting is an act of ignoring the sentiments of Tamils and the people of Tamil Nadu.”
He wondered how could the UPA government at the Centre propose a bilateral meeting given the circumstances.
Manmohan Singh's meeting with Rajapaksa comes just ahead of a proposed United States’ motion against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva condemning the island nation for alleged war crimes against Tamils and seek a neutral international probe.
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international meeting involving Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. The seven-country forum aims to achieve its own free trade area by 2017.