Vaiko appeals PM not to extend any military support to Lanka

Chennai, Nov 6 (UNI) Accusing the Sri Lankan Government of preparing for a large-scale ''genocidal attack'' against Tamils, Marumalarchi DMK (MDMK) General Secretary Vaiko today appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to extend any kind of military assistance to the island nation.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, a copy of which was circulated to the media here, he said aerial bombing and strafing were repeatedly carried out by the Sinhala Government in Tamil areas killing innocent Tamils.

The Tamils of Tamil Nadu and all over the world were terribly concerned about the security of the Tamil population of the island, he said and requested Dr Singh to prevail upon the Lankan Government to stop forthwith its military onslaught against the Tamils.

Mr Vaiko said the recent talks held in Geneva last month did not yield any fruitful result because of the ''intransigent'' attitude of the Sri Lankan Government to open the A-9 Highway to Jaffna.

The highway route A 9, connecting Tamil areas to Jaffna, have been closed by the Sri Lankan Army for the past three months and the movement of the people has been totally curtailed, he said.

''The most painful aspect is that the food supply and medicines do not reach the Tamils, pushing the entire Tamil population to utter starvation. Children do not get milk powder and die of hunger.

For want of medicines, people affected by illness are subjected to sorrowful deaths,'' he added.

''I would also request you to kindly take effective steps to render supply of food and medicines through international agencies like Red Cross so that assistance could reach suffering Tamils,'' he said.

The MDMK leader also said the Prime Minister, with ''perspective far-sighted approach,'' had kindly considered his party's request and decided not to enter into any defence co-operation pact with Sri Lanka.

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