TN house resolution calls for boycott of Colombo CHOGM

The HinduChief Minister Jayalalithaa leaving the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday after unanimously adopted a resolution asking the Indian government to completely boycott the Commonwealth Head of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in November in Sri Lanka. Photo: V. Ganesan

B. KOLAPPAN-CHENNAI, October 24, 2013 Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution asking the Indian government to completely boycott the Commonwealth Head of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in November in Sri Lanka. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who moved the resolution, said even token participation of Indian representatives should not be allowed. India should immediately communicate its decision to the Sri Lankan government and take steps to suspend the country from the Commonwealth till it secures rights for the Tamils on par with the Sinhalese and their independence, she said amid thumping of desk by the treasury benches. Ms. Jayalalithaa recalled how she in the past took exception to India providing training to Sri Lankan Army personnel in India, the resolution passed in the Assembly seeking

economic embargo against Sri Lanka, and her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take efforts to shift the venue of CHOGM from Sri Lanka to some other country. She said her consistent efforts led to India putting an end to providing training to the Sri Lankan Army. The Assembly also wanted India to abstain from using the term friendly nation while making any reference to Sri Lanka. Ms. Jayalalithaa said India should take a cue from the stand taken by the Canadian Prime Minister that he would not participate in the CHOGM meet on the ground that Sri Lanka had violated the basic principles of the Commonwealth and boycott the meet.

Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously demands full CHOGM boycott by New Delhi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 October 2013, 14:02 GMT] Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms Jayalalithaa on Thursday moved a resolution in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly demanding the Indian Central Government to completely boycott its participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka this November. The resolution was particular in demanding that there should not even be a token participation from the Indian side. Instead, India should take steps to temporarily suspend Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth till the Sri Lankan State acts upon ensuring the freedom and equality of Tamils on a par with the Sinhalese. All the political parties present in the Assembly, including the Congress, passed the resolution unanimously.

[Tamil] Full text of Tamil Nadu Assembly Resolution on CHOGM

Tabling the resolution, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister noted that when the Canadian State, where only a few Tamils live compared to India, has taken a stand of not sending its Head of Government, the Indian State, where 80 million Tamils live, should have taken a strong decision of not participating at all. The Chief Minister has also noted that the Indian government had failed to respond to the two crucial State Assembly resolutions passed unanimously earlier on 08 June 2011 and on 27 March 2013. The Chief Minister has also noted the letters she had sent to Indian Prime Minister on the failure by the Indian Central Government in honouring the Tamil Nadu Assembly resolutions. The first resolution demanded the Indian State to declare at the UN Assembly that the Sri Lankan leaders responsible for mass atrocities against Tamils were war criminals. The first resolution also demanded India to work with other countries to impose economic sanctions on Sri Lanka till the Tamils were resettled and provided equal rights. The Indian government failed to act on the resolution. Instead, it continued to assist Sri Lanka, including the military training provided to Sri Lanka Army in Tamil Nadu. Following the protests and the letter from the Tamil Nadu CM to Indian PM demanding the Indian government not to provide training to Sri Lankan military anywhere in India, the training programmes to the Sri Lankan soldiers in Tamil Nadu State were cancelled. But, as reports of Sri Lankas abuse on Tamils continued and new evidences surfaced, the entire Tamil Nadu was on an uprising, Ms Jayalalithaa said, adding that the second resolution demanded Indian Central Government to cease calling Sri Lanka a friendly country, wanted India to back international investigations on genocide and war crimes, impose economic sanctions on Sri Lanka and demanded India to bring a resolution in the UN Security Council for a plebiscite on the question of separate Eezham among Eezham Tamils in the island and in the Diaspora. But, the Indian

government has not acted upon on this resolution either, she said. At this juncture, while the people of Tamil Nadu stress that India should not participate in the CHOGM, we learn through some news reports about the Indian PM stating that he would decide on his participation at CHOGM after taking the feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu together with other concerns into consideration. This stand has upset the people of Tamil Nadu, Ms Jayalalithaa said. She further cited the core values of the Commonwealth and the findings of the report of UN Secretary Generals Panel of Experts, in justifying the demand of the people of Tamil Nadu. When the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK party leader Ms. Jayalalithaa moved the resolution in the Assembly, the DMK party leader in the Assembly, Mr. M.K. Stalin, Congress leader Mr Gopinath, CPM member Mr A Soundararajan, CPI member Mr Arumugam and DMDK leader Mr. Panurutti Ramachandran supported the move and facilitated its unanimous passage. However, while supporting the resolution, the Congress Party leader has also cautioned that whatever action India takes should not lead to straining of relations between the two countries, PTI reported. Meanwhile, MDMK General Secretary and long time supporter of the Eezham Tamil cause Mr Vaiko said that he was disappointed by the resolution as it only talks about equal status of Eezham Tamils on a par with Sinhalese in the island, but it is not stressing on the earlier resolution of the Tamil Nadu Assembly that a referendum should be conducted on the question of independence of Eezham Tamils.