Sending food is a farce: D. Pandian

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 10:28 GMT]
"Sending food to an area that is being bombed continuously is a major farce," said D. Pandian, State Secretary of the Communist Party of India. He also expressed discontent over the fact that no information has been released until now on whether India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had addressed the issue of ceasefire during his discussions with Basil Rajapaksa, Special Adviser to the Sri Lankan President.

The senior communist leader pointed out that the public are kept uninformed as to whether the question of a ceasefire was broached with Basil Rajapaksa, and if it had been done, what his reaction had been. Pandian condemned the Government of Sri Lanka for its stand that it would discuss a solution after military end to the war.

Clearly exposing the futility of Indian aid to the Tamils in the island nation, he said, "As though supplying weapons to Sri Lanka was alone not enough, the Indian Government has now started supplying food. Our only question is: What is the guarantee that the food will reach the Tamils?"

Pandian was vehement in his opinion that the Sri Lankan authorities should not be trusted with relief material. "We are unwilling to even hand over a pin to Rajapaksa because he has lost our trust," he said. He urged Kalaignar Karunanidhi to wake up to the reality.

He also called upon the state government to send doctors from Tamil Nadu to treat the wounded civilians.