Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Karunanidh­i bankrupt - Karuna

- BY HAFEEL FARISZ

Minister Vinayagamo­orthy Muralithar­an alias ‘Karuna Amman’ said yesterday that former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidh­i and some other Tamil Nadu leaders are using the rejected idea of Tamil Eelam to rouse Tamil sentiments and stay afloat politicall­y.

Commenting on Karunanidh­i’s recent claim that Tamil Eelam is his only “unrealised dream” the Minister said that most Tamil people know that Tamil Nadu politician­s don’t have the interest of the Tamil people at heart.

“Karunanidh­i and many of the Tamil Nadu politician­s are today politicall­y bankrupt. They don’t have the backing of sincere Tamil people”, he said.

He said the only thing they wanted was power and to achieve this they would even sacrifice the Tamil people.

Minister Muralithar­an recalled as to how the former Prime Minster of India was killed in Tamil Nadu itself when Karunanidh­i himself was Chief Minster and said that even Indian people hadn’t forgotten that.

Speaking on the resolution passed at the UNHRC in Geneva the Minster said that people should not panic. “People shouldn’t panic about this, even for supporting the resolution we don’t have anything against America or India, they are sovereign nations. They have made their decisions due to either internal or external political factors and we will have to respect that. But Sri Lanka doesn’t want its sovereignt­y impeded upon. We don’t want any outside forces dictating what should be done.

The Government has

Obviously we can’t have quick fix solutions for the problems that ravaged this country, it is a slow process and we have laid the foundation­s for it really well

taken all efforts for speedy reconcilia­tion and accountabi­lity. The Internal mechanisms are in place for these things and though it will take time these things will be implemente­d. Obviously we can’t have quick fix solutions for the problems that ravaged this country, it is a slow process and we have laid the foundation­s for it really well” he said.

Mr. Muralithar­an also stated that the government and his Ministry have taken constructi­ve measures towards national integratio­n. “The people in the Wanni for the first time in 30 years have electricit­y, the roads are being developed and there is massive investment on infrastruc­ture. Livelihood developmen­t has been one of the key areas we are working on and these things will all help build lasting peace and ethnic harmony among all communitie­s living in the country,” he said. The former Eastern Commander of the LTTE also commended the TNA on its approach.

“The TNA by not going to Geneva have done the right thing. They have a lot of responsibi­lity though because they have to understand that if they encourage interventi­on it is the Tamil people who will suffer first” he said.

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