Vaiko condemns deportation of Sivajilingam

Marumalarchi DMK leader Vaiko on Friday condemned the deportation of Jaffna district member of Parliament Sivajilingam upon his landing at the Chennai airport on Dec 26 last to prevent him from attending a pro-Eelam Tamils conference organised by Tamil Nationalist Movement leader P Nedumaran.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that by packing off Mr Sivajilingam after aiding and abetting the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration of Sri Lanka in the "genocide" of Tamils during the final stages of the armed struggle, the Government of India had "rubbed salt in the wound".

He said the Karunanidhi Government in Tamil Nadu was also party to deportation of Mr Sivajilingam, an elected representative of the Sri Lankan Tamils, without adducing any reason by the immigration authorities here.

He contrasted the treatment meted out to Mr Sivajilingam with the red carpet welcome accorded to Mr Rajapaksa during his visit to Tirupati and the full honours with which he was received at the Balaji temple. He said:" I don't blame the temple authorities. I blame only the Government of India".

Describing 2009 as a sad year for the Tamil race the world over, he said in an obvious reference to the decimation of LTTE leadership, including its chief V Prabhakaran, said " the end of the armed struggle does not mean the end of the struggle for an independent Eelam".

Pointing out that the demand for an independent Tamil nation arose from years of oppression of the Tamils by the Sinhala regimes, articulated through the Vaddukottai resolution of May 1976 and endorsed by the Tamil people in the 1977 parliament elections, Mr Vaiko said the armed struggle intensified only after peaceful means to achieve Eelam failed and led to brutal suppression of the Tamils.

"Such being the case, the Tamils can no longer co-exist with the Sinhalese after the massacre of the innocents during the final stages of the Eelam war last May",he said.

In this connection, he said an illusion was sought to be created that the Tamil question would resolve itself once the three lakh war-displaced Tamils interned in camps were resettled in their homes.

Referring to the slapping of a sedition case against him by the Tamil Nadu Government for bringing out a book titled " I accuse", he reiterated "I stand by whatever I have said" regarding India extending military help to the Sinhala regime to suppress the Tamil people, giving financial assistance to the Sri Lankan government in the name of reconstruction of war-ravaged north at a time when the European Union was withdrawing duty concessions on garment imports from Sri Lanka for its human rights violations, and the blocking efforts by the western powers to bring a resolution in the UN to bring those involved in war crimes to justice.

- Asian Tribune -