2ND LEAD

Announce ceasefire, call back military and commence peace talks - TN Assembly

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2008, 16:56 GMT]
Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday demanding "an immediate halt of military operations, reverting the Sri Lankan military to old positions and a commencement of political negotiations to find a solution to the Tamil problem." The house of representatives also urged New Delhi to press for talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The resolution comes while the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in New Delhi on an official visit.

The resolution, which enjoyed the support of every member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, was moved by Chief Minister Karunanidhi.

Pointing out that the LTTE had offered to effect a ceasefire, the resolution pressed upon the Indian Government to ask Colombo to agree to an immediate truce in order to alleviate the sufferings of the Eelam Tamils.  

It called upon the Indian Government to undertake efforts to guarantee the right to life, property, livelihood, equality and to bring back normalcy to the Eelam Tamils.

At the end of the assembly debate, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said that the Indian Prime Minister and Congress President Ms. Sonia Gandhi should consider that this is not only a demand of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, but also the will of 70 million Tamils of Tamil Nadu and the Tamils who live all over the world.

Although, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Relief Fund for Eelam Tamils has collected over 20 crore (200 million) rupees within a very short span of time, the statement of the resolution noted, "sending relief materials to the Eelam Tamils through international organisations alone will not alleviate their suffering travails adequately."

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