DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi on Tuesday announced that party treasurer M K Stalin and parliamentary party leader T R Baalu were scheduled to present the resolutions of the Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO) Conference to the United Nations and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by the end of October.
Stalin and Baalu are set to depart from Chennai on October 30 for New York.
Members of the TESO had approved the trip with the intention of meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and to hand over the resolutions passed at the TESO conference. But scheduling problems seem to have caused a small change in plans.
“Senior UN officials have always been ready to meet us, but the idea was to meet the Secretary General. The Ministry (of External Affairs) has also suggested that we meet the next-in-command, as a meeting with the Secretary General may not happen,” said a source in the DMK. After New York, Stalin and Baalu are scheduled to take part in a conference on the Lankan Tamil issue between November 6 and 9. They could be joined by other party leaders for the conference, which is being organised by some British MPs.
The party source also said that the October 30 departure was tentative and could be rescheduled if a meeting with Ban Ki-moon could be arranged.
The resolutions to be presented to the UN and the UNHRC include demands for action to ensure the return of normalcy in the lives of Lankan Tamils, their repatriation to their native lands, political rights and war crime trials among others.