Unfortunate to invite Rajapaksa to Modi swearing-in: Jayalalithaa

Chennai, May 22 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa Thursday termed as "unfortunate" that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been invited to the swearing-in ceremony of India's new prime minister Narendra Modi.

"We had hoped that the new government to be formed at the centre would be sympathetic to the cause of Tamils and friendly to the state of Tamil Nadu," Jayalalithaa said in a statement here.

"However, even before the new prime minister and the new government assume office and begin functioning, this unfortunate move of inviting the Sri Lankan president to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new prime minister of India has deeply upset the people of Tamil Nadu and wounded their sentiments all over again. This is tantamount to rubbing salt into the wounds of the already deeply injured Tamil psyche," she added.

She said it would have been better if the ill-advised move of inviting Rajapaksa was avoided, particularly with regard to the relationship of the new central government with the Tamil Nadu government.

According to her, the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu and Tamils living in other parts of India and abroad are well known in the matter pertaining to Sri Lankan Tamils.

"There has been a general election to the Lok Sabha and a new government is to take charge in a few days, but this in no way alters the already existing strained relations between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka," she said.

Jayalalithaa said the world is aware of the various resolutions passed in the Tamil Nadu assembly during the last three years, with regard to the war crimes, ethnic pogrom and genocide perpetrated against the Sri Lankan Tamil people by the Sri Lankan Army under the Rajapaksa government during the final stages of the civil war.

"We had demanded an economic embargo on Sri Lanka and urged that India should take the lead in bringing a resolution in the United Nations for those accused of war crimes and genocide to be brought before the International Court of Justice and that they should be made to face trial," she said.