CHENNAI: PMK founder S Ramadoss has expressed shock and disappointment over the announcement of the Ministry of External Affairs that India will not support the UN inquiry into the war crimes committed during the final stages of the Lankan civil war.
He urged the NDA government not to continue in the same vein as the previous UPA government as far as the stance on the Sri Lankan issue is concerned.
Ramadoss’s statement to this effect came two days after a meeting between Sushma Swaraj and GL Peiris,the Foreign Affairs Ministers of India and Sri Lanka, respectively.
Following the meeting, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs had said India would not support the inquiry as it was not being carried out with the cooperation of the Sri Lankan government, and added that India would not back any probe of a punitive nature.
“The fact that the NDA government is adopting the same stance on the war crimes inquiry as the previous UPA government causes great shock and disappointment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should give up following the policy of the UPA government on Sri Lanka, and adopt a stand that protects human rights,” said Ramadoss, an NDA ally, in his statement on Sunday.
Ramadoss recalled a number of incidents relating to the island nation to underscore his claim that the cause of human rights was not being served. To this end, he cited the continuing arrests of Indian fishermen who stray into Lankan waters and said that those guilty of war crimes had not been punished in Sri Lanka, even five years after the end of the civil conflict.