Centre insulting Tamils by training Sri Lankan defence personnel: Jaya

While demanding that some of them presently in India be immediately sent back,it also called for an end to their training on Indian soil.

However the party refrained from taking up the ‘coalgate’ scam over alleged losses in coal mining.

“That the Centre has taken it up as a duty to train Sri Lankan personnel who (allgedly) harass Tamils in Lanka besides its Navy attacking Indian fishermen amounts to insulting the entire Tamil race,” one of the 16 resolutions adopted by the members said.

The Centre should take steps to end attacks on fishermen and this should include retrieval of ‘Katchatheevu,’ an islet ceded to Sri Lanka by India in 1974 through an agreement,it said,while citing a case already filed by Jayalalithaa in the Supreme Court in this regard.

“The Sri Lankan personnel undergoing training at Bangalore and Wellington (in Tamil Nadu) should be immediately sent back,” it said,adding New Delhi should stop training them in future.

Meanwhile,taking a jibe at Karunanidhi,AIADMK executive said,the DMK took up the Sri Lankan Tamils’ cause only when it was out of power and charged him with focussing his resources towards his “family’s welfare” while managing the reigns.

Recalling Karunanidhi’s 2009 “fast unto death” during the peak of hostilities between Lankan armed forces and LTTE,the executive alleged that scores of Tamils had left bunkers on his assurance that a ceasefire had been announced.

“He had (recently) said Sri Lankan government had misled him (through Centre on assurance on ceasefire). Believing his word,Tamils who left the bunkers were killed and he has now made candid confession of his role in their killing,” a resolution claimed.

Without using the term TESO conference,a pro-Eelam meet held recently by the 88 year-old leader,AIADMK described it as “a drama”.

Among other resolutions adopted were demanding convening of Cauvery River Authority,allocating the entire power from Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant to the state,restoring state’s kerosene quota and giving more respect to the federal structure by involving states in taking key decisions.

The AIADMK Executive also made obituary referrences to former Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and BJP leader Sukumaran Nambiar,among others.

India will continue to train Sri Lankan defence personnel

India will continue to train Sri Lankan defence personnel at its establishments,Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said today,notwithstanding opposition by parties from Tamil Nadu.

The minister’s statement came against the backdrop of the demand for expulsion of two such Lankan officers from Defence Staff Services College in Wellington by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha.

“Sri Lanka is a friendly foreign country and the training will go on. Sometimes there are objections raised by local governments which we have to take into consideration,” Raju told reporters here.

The Minister was asked about the response of the Defence Ministry on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s demand.

In July,nine Sri Lankan defence personnel were removed from a training institution in Tambaram to Bangalore after opposition from political parties in the state.

In her letter,Jayalalithaa said such “reprehensible attitude” on part of the Centre was reflected in permitting two Sri Lankan defence personnel Major Dissanayaka Mohottalalage Vengra and Captain Hewawasam Kadaudage to undergo 11 months training at Defence Services Staff College at Wellington from May 19.

The Tamil Nadu chief minister has requested the Prime Minister to instruct the Defence Ministry to immediately halt the training being given to the two Sri Lankan defence personnel and send them back to their country immediately.

Meanwhile,Raju said the Defence Ministry has given its nod for operation of international flights from the Vishakhapatanam airport which is under the control of the Navy.

He said the timing of flight operations has been extended by three hours and international flights will start operating from October 1.