MDMK leader Vaiko, an ally of the BJP, came down heavily on the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre for not doing enough to protect the fishermen from Tamil Nadu who frequently come under the ‘attack’ of the Sri lankan Navy. “Is there a Government at the Centre to protect themIJ Is there a Navy to safeguard them when they fish in the traditional watersIJ” asked Vaiko on Tuesday.
The MDMK leader was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a demonstration staged by his party at Chennai.
Vaiko charged that 600 fishernmen from Tamil Nadu had lost their lives in attacks by the Sri lankan Navy. He also asked the Union Government to allow the United Nations panel probing the war crimes by the Sri lankan Army to hold its sittings in India. The Centre has made it clear that no UN panels intruding into the affairs of other countries would be allowed to hold sittings in India.
Though Tamils in Sri lanka had been pleading with politicians in Tamil Nadu not to drag the Eelam issue, Vaiko declared that a separate Eelam (separate country) is the only solution to the ethnic issue in the island nation.