7/27/2019 TN House Resolution Calls for Boycott of Colombo CHOGM

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TN house resolution calls for boycott of Colombo CHOGM

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• 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 inNovember in Sri Lanka. Photo: V. Ganesan

B. KOLAPPAN-CHENNAI, October 24, 2013Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution asking theIndian 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 participationof Indian representatives” should not be allowed.“India should immediately communicate its decision to the Sri Lankan governmentand take steps to suspend the country from the Commonwealth till it secures rights forthe Tamils on par with the Sinhalese and their independence,” she said amid thumpingof desk by the treasury benches.Ms. Jayalalithaa recalled how she in the past took exception to India providing trainingto Sri Lankan Army personnel in India, the resolution passed in the Assembly seeking

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economic embargo against Sri Lanka, and her letter to Prime Minister ManmohanSingh to take efforts to shift the venue of CHOGM from Sri Lanka to some othercountry.She said her consistent efforts led to India putting an end to providing training to theSri 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 CanadianPrime Minister that he would not participate in the CHOGM meet on the ground thatSri Lanka had violated the basic principles of the Commonwealth and boycott themeet.

Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously demandsfull CHOGM boycott by New Delhi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 October 2013, 14:02 GMT]Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms Jayalalithaa on Thursday moved aresolution in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly demanding the IndianCentral Government to completely boycott its participation in theCommonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduledto be held in Sri Lanka this November. The resolution was particularin demanding that there should not even be a token participationfrom the Indian side. Instead, India should take steps totemporarily 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 presentin the Assembly, including the Congress, passed the resolutionunanimously. 

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

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Tabling the resolution, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister noted that when theCanadian State, where only a few Tamils live compared to India, has takena stand of not sending its Head of Government, the Indian State, where 80million Tamils live, should have taken a strong decision of not participatingat all.

The Chief Minister has also noted that the Indian government had failed torespond to the two crucial State Assembly resolutions passed unanimouslyearlier on 08 June 2011 and on 27 March 2013. The Chief Minister has alsonoted the letters she had sent to Indian Prime Minister on the failure by theIndian Central Government in honouring the Tamil Nadu Assemblyresolutions.

The first resolution demanded the Indian State to declare at the UNAssembly that the Sri Lankan leaders responsible for mass atrocitiesagainst Tamils were war criminals. The first resolution also demanded Indiato work with other countries to impose economic sanctions on Sri Lanka tillthe Tamils were resettled and provided equal rights.

The Indian government failed to act on the resolution. Instead, it continuedto assist Sri Lanka, including the military training provided to Sri LankaArmy in Tamil Nadu.

Following the protests and the letter from the Tamil Nadu CM to Indian PMdemanding the Indian government not to provide training to Sri Lankanmilitary anywhere in India, the training programmes to the Sri Lankansoldiers in Tamil Nadu State were cancelled.

But, as reports of Sri Lanka’s abuse on Tamils continued and new evidencessurfaced, the entire Tamil Nadu was on an uprising, Ms Jayalalithaa said,adding that the second resolution demanded Indian Central Government tocease calling Sri Lanka a friendly country, wanted India to backinternational investigations on genocide and war crimes, impose economicsanctions on Sri Lanka and demanded India to bring a resolution in the UNSecurity Council for a plebiscite on the question of “separate Eezham” among Eezham Tamils in the island and in the Diaspora. But, the Indian

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government has not acted upon on this resolution either, she said.

At this juncture, while the people of Tamil Nadu stress that India should notparticipate in the CHOGM, we learn through some news reports about theIndian PM stating that he would decide on his participation at CHOGM aftertaking the feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu together with otherconcerns 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 General’s Panel of Experts, in justifying thedemand 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 memberMr A Soundararajan, CPI member Mr Arumugam and DMDK leader Mr.Panurutti Ramachandran supported the move and facilitated its unanimouspassage.

However, while supporting the resolution, the Congress Party leader hasalso cautioned that whatever action India takes should not lead to strainingof 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 theresolution as it only talks about equal status of Eezham Tamils on a parwith Sinhalese in the island, but it is not stressing on the earlier resolutionof the Tamil Nadu Assembly that a referendum should be conducted on thequestion of independence of Eezham Tamils.