India should support UNHRC report on Sri Lanka: Karunanidhi

Chennai, Feb 13 (IANS) India should support a report on human rights abuses in Sri Lanka to be submitted next month by a panel appointed by the UNHRC, DMK president M. Karunanidhi said Friday.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Karunanidhi said: "I understand that the committee appointed by the UNHRC to enquire into human rights violations of the Mahinda Rajapaksa's government is going to submit its report in the UNHRC meeting to be held next month.

"The community of the Tamils anxiously expect the Indian government to support the adoption of the report in the UNHRC," he said.

Karunanidhi's letter comes days ahead of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's visit to India.

Citing the earlier Rajapaksa regime that thwarted probe attempts by an international agency on war crimes against Tamils, Karunanidhi requested Modi to move a suitable resolution in the UNHRC.

He also said the Sri Lankan Northern Provincial Council had recently passed a resolution calling for an international probe into the war crimes against the Tamils.

The DMK leader told Modi that Sri Lankan Tamils voted for Maithripala Sirisena, enabling him to win the presidential polls in Sri Lanka.

According to Karunanidhi, the Sri Lankan Tamils expected the army posted in the Tamil areas will be withdrawn, and the lands and houses forcibly occupied by the army would be returned to the community.

"But what is now happening in Sri Lanka has upset the Tamils. The promises and announcements are too many and what has been achieved is either nil or very little," Karunanidhi said.