All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief Jeyalalitha came out in the open in favour of a separate "Tamil Eelam" (homeland for Tamils) in Sri Lanka, saying it alone would solve the decade-long ethnic strife in the island nation.
"Separate Tamil Eelam is the only solution. Sri Lanka will not ensure equal status to Tamils. If the AIADMK-led alliance is elected in all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, we will work for formation of separate Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka," she told an election meeting in Tamil Nadu.
She dismissed as a "drama" and an "eyewash" the visit of National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon to Colombo as India's special envoys to press for cessation of hostilities, saying "nothing has happened since their visit."
Jeyalalitha says her reaction comes after watching a chilling account of civilian plight shot by Art of Living guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar from the war zone in Sri Lanka.
“The video shows the Lankan army coercing the Tamils in to the makeshift camps erected in terrains having no facilities. There they are treated as prisoners and not allowed to meet even their relatives,” she said.
When Ravishankar met them and extended some relief materials, their only plea was to allow them to return to their houses. “Who gave Lankan premier Rajapaksa the right to treat the Tamils like prisoners? When Ravi Shankar pleaded with him to allow the Tamils in the camps to leave to their homes, he refused saying that landmines were erected around the camps and it would take four years to remove them,” she said.
"Till now we thought there is a war going on. After seeing the DVD I came to know that it is different. Concentration camps are meant to traumatise Tamils. Sinhalese will never give rights to these people; they will treat Tamils as slaves. Comparing the atrocities against the Tamils in Sri Lanka with that of Hitler’s concentration camp, she said the only solution for the Lankan issue is a separate Eelam for Tamils.
Earlier Jayalalithaa releasing her party's election manifesto on April 18th said if devolution of powers in Tamil-dominated provinces of Sri Lanka failed to give equal status to Tamils it would press for a "separate Eelam".
"Tamils should be accorded equal status with the Sinhala majority with devolution of administrative power in the Tamil-dominated provinces of Sri Lanka," read the manifesto.
It said, "If these moves fail, then AIADMK will press for a separate state of Eelam to ensure that Tamils in the island live a life of dignity."
