In a marked shift from its long time stance against an independent Tamil Eelam in Sri lanka, the BJP made it clear on Wednesday that it would not hesitate to support the Tamils in the island nation in their demand for an independent country.
“The BJP was always for a negotiated settlement of the ethnic Tamil issue within the territorial integrity of Sri lanka. But the recent actions of the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government are totally against any kind of negotiated settlement. I want to tell Rajapaksa that if you continue like this, Tamil Eelam is not far away. There is still time for him and the question is whether he would reform himself. It is for him to answer the question,” said Yashwant Sinha, senior BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister during the NDA Government.
Sinha was addressing a public meeting organised by the State BJP here on Wednesday which was attended among others by P Nedumaran, a long time proponent of the Eelam demand.
Sinha said that recent history has taught the humanity that repression never works. “We have the examples of Bangladesh, East Tomor and the north and south Sudans. Whenever rulers decide to suppress their people, it works only for a while. When the people rise, there is no going back,” said Sinha.
For the first time, the BJP leader demanded an international independent probe on the crimes perpetrated on the Tamils by the lankan Army. “We demand an independent inquiry in which people from outside Sri lanka should be allowed to visit that country and an unequivocal commitment from lankan Government that the guilty should be punished,” said Sinha.
The BJP leader said both Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi were equally responsible like Mahinda Rajapaksa for the genocide happened in the island nation during the last phase of the Eelam war in 2009. “It was perpetrated with the active concurrence and knowledge of the UPA Government. lankan Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa had said the other day that the troika of the then Indian National security Adviser, the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary were kept in the loop about all happenings in the months of April, May and June 2009. The annihilation of the Tamils in the island nation happened as per the wishes of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi,” said Sinha.
He said if India wanted, it could have stopped the genocide. “Why were the Tamils slaughtered by the marauding Sri lankan ArmyIJ Because it was what India wanted. Along with Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh are equally responsible for the annihilation of the Tamils in Sri lanka,” Sinha reiterated.
He also pointed out that there were no attacks against Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri lankan Navy during the NDA regime under Atal Bihari Vajpayee during 1998 to 2004. Sinha wanted Manmohan Singh to tell the Commonwealth Secretariat that the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting should not be held in Colombo as scheduled because of the genocide and violation of human rights in the island nation.