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By IANS - CHENNAI
28th August 2012 01:58 PM
Calling New Delhi's friendship with Colombo as "one sided", DMK chief M. Karunanidhi Tuesday said it was a shame that New Delhi continued to train Sri Lankan military personnel.
Karunanidhi said in a statement that Sri Lanka considered China and Pakistan as more friendly nations than India.
In
such a juncture, "it is an insult to Tamil Nadu and Tamil sentiments" that the central government has decided to keep training Sri Lankan military personnel in the country.
Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju said Monday that Sri Lanka was a friendly country and India would continue to train military personnel from that country.
Karunanidhi
said: "After the 2009 war (leading to the defeat of the LTTE), Sri Lanka considers China and Pakistan as (more) friendly nations than India."
Political parties in Tamil Nadu including the AIADMK and DMK, who normally don't see eye to eye on any issue, are strongly opposed to India training the Sri Lankan military.
According to Karunanidhi, China is assisting Sri Lanka in building military, naval and air force) bases in the north of the island and also setting up infrastructure for defence personnel to live there.
He said the Chinese defence minister would be in Sri Lanka Wednesday to discuss the subject.
In September, a 96-member Chinese delegation will tour Sri Lanka's south and the north, the latter predominantly Tamil areas.
China has executed Rs.36,000 crore worth of 14 projects in Sri Lanka, Karunanidhi said.
With
China extending several times more help to Sri Lanka than India, on what basis was New Delhi saying that Colombo is a friendly nation, he asked.
"This can be termed as a one-sided friendship and not a congenial friendship between two nations," he said.
The
DMK chief urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reconsider the statement made by Raju and send back the two Sri Lankan defence personnel who are now undergoing training in India.
Copyright © 2012 The New Indian Express. All rights reserved.
Comments(2)
Tamils should try the best to send these people back. What a shame for the Tamils if they are not send back. OMG what will the world Tamils say about us Tamil nadu Tamils if we cant get anything done in the country where the Tamil home land is.
Posted by Sathyam at 08/28/2012 14:16 Reply to this Report abuse
Tamilian leaders are indulging in political drama. DMK was in a position to stop the genocide and atrocities. They did nothing but loot the Nation. Others were paying lipservice since LTTE was in no position to finance them. Military exchanges are common with many countries. If we do not provide there will be many others willing to provide. Already many are doing training in several countries. There may even be few Indian's in Lanka attending these exchange programs. Rather than telling the true facts to the public the state is displaying it's ignorance and Centre is being arrogant.
Posted by SAKSHI at 09/04/2012 12:39 Reply to this Report abuse