| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Sri Lanka | |
| India's Tamil Leaders Demand End to War in Sri Lanka | |
| 2009-01-19 | |
| Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Tamil political leaders in India say the government in New Delhi must press Sri Lanka to end its military offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels to save civilians caught in the conflict. Thol Thirumavalavan, a regional leader in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is on a hunger strike demanding an "immediate cease-fire," Ravi Kumar, a spokesman for his Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi party, said in a telephone interview from Chennai, the state capital. Tamil Nadu has a population of 62.4 million people. "Our party will not stop our protests until demands are met," Kumar said. Tamil lawmakers threatened to resign from India's national Parliament last October over the Sri Lankan conflict. Their support is crucial to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition government. Sri Lanka's army is attacking the last strongholds of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the northeast after capturing the group's political headquarters earlier this month as it tries to end the 26-year civil war. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the latest fighting and are in danger in the conflict zones, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday. Tamil Nadu's ruling Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam party has "impressed" on the federal government that it should step in and stop the war, spokesman T.K.S. Illangovan said in a telephone interview from Chennai. The party wants Pranab Mukherjee, India's foreign minister, to hold talks with the Sri Lankan government to "stop the genocide," he said. "Civilian Tamils are affected in large numbers," Illangovan said. "This has to be stopped."
| |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Sonia Gandhi isn't going to forgive the LTTE for making her a widow. Indian troops are more likely to intervene in Iceland then in Lanka. |
| Posted by: john frum 2009-01-19 14:54 |
| #2 Looks like you're losing, huh, boys? Big time. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-01-19 14:01 |
| #1 India sending troops? Not gonna happen. They'll probably press for better treatment of the Tamil civilians, but that's about it. They haven't forgotten what the LTTE did to Rajiv Gandhi. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-01-19 11:16 |