Karunanidhi asks Manmohan to send Pranab immediately to Colombo

By M Rama Rao, India Editor, Asian Tribune

New Delhi, 17 December, (Asiantribune.com): Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to send the external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee to Sri Lanka. It is possible that the visit will materialize before Christmas.

DMK, an ally of the Congress, and ruling party in Tami Nnadu, Tuesday reminded Singh of his 'promised' to send Pranab to Colombo and asked him to depute the external affairs minister to interact with the Sri Lankan leadership, immediately to Colombo as 'promised' by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make all efforts to arrange for a ceasefire between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE.

A resolution adopted at a high-level DMK meeting said Pranab Mukherjee should immediately visit Sri Lanka 'to hold necessary talks and make all efforts' to convince Colombo for a ceasefire in the Eelam War IV.

Chief Minister Karunanidhi chaired the meeting signaling the importance he attaches to the issue.

Pranab's visit to Colombo is being talked about for a while, the dates have not yet been finalized. The visit is officially not on the back burner, though.

At present the focus of the foreign office is on Pakistan in the wake of Mumbai attacks. Moreover, as leader of the House, Pranab's presence in the Lok Sabha is crucial since the government is seeking to push through the short session a tough law against terror.

Pranab was in Srinagar Tuesday as the Jammu and Kashmir entered the final phases of assembly election. He utilized the occasion to send a message to Islamabad that it should follow up with action its promise to the global community on bringing to book the militant groups.

'We expect that good sense will prevail and we expect that the assurances that are coming (from Pakistan) will translate into action. Because assurances are coming from established leadership of that country, we expect conducive atmosphere will prevail to act on the promises made', the Minister said, responding to questions at a press conference.

He however made it clear that the Mumbai attacks had nothing to do with the bilateral relationship on matters relating to the border state.

"It is not a Kashmir issue. It is not merely an issue between Pakistan and India. It is about global war against terrorism," Mukherjee said, referring to the November 26 siege of Mumbai's iconic hotels, the Taj and the Oberai that had lasted 60-hours and claimed 183 lives.

"We should not look at the issue through the prism of Indo-Pak relations or the prism of Kashmir," he added.

Baalu To Meet Pranab

On his return to Delhi Wednesday, one of his visitors will be T R Baalu, DMK's senior minister in the Manmohan Singh government.
DMK supremo directed Baalu, who is minister for Shipping and Transport to meet the External Affairs Minister, who is the Number 2 in the Singh government.

Karunanidhi led an 'all-party' delegation to the Prime Minister on December 4 and extracted a promise that Pranab would be sent to Colombo. While agreeing to the request, Singh said the composition of the delegation that would accompany Pranab would be finalized in consultation with the DMK chief.

-Asian Tribune –