Jayalalithaa reiterates demand for Lanka economic embargo

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has urged the Central Government to impose an economic embargo on Sri Lanka for alleged 'war crimes' and atrocities committed on the ethnic Tamil community by the Mahinda Rajapakse-led Government.

A recent UN report accused Colombo of targeting Tamil civilians during the army onslaught on the militant outfit, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in 2008-2009. The report specifically accused the Rajapaksa Government of widespread shelling, including targeting field hospitals, denial of humanitarian aid, and rights violations against people inside and outside the conflict zone on the northeastern coast of the island nation. Demanding justice for the Sri Lankan Tamils in a resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu assembly, Jayalalithaa had called for an economic blockade against neighbouring Sri Lanka in June. Addressing a news conference in Chennai, she asserted that AIADMK lawmakers would be raising the issue before other parties during the Parliament's Monsoon Session beginning on August 1. "Yes, our Members of Parliament will definitely be raising the issue on the floors of both houses of Parliament, with regard to the atrocities committed against Sri Lankan Tamils and the resolutions passed in the Tamil Nadu assembly to declare those guilty of war crimes as war criminals and to see that they are made to appear before the International Criminal Court for inquiry," said Jayalalithaa. "We have also been insisting that an economic embargo should be imposed against Sri Lanka. Our Members of Parliament will raise these issues in both the houses," she added. (ANI)