M K Narayanan, Shivshankar Menon are pro-Sri Lanka: Vaiko

New Delhi, Nov 26 (UNI) MDMK General Secretary Vaiko today charged Prime Minister's National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon with ''toeing the line'' of the Sri Lankan government and working against the interest of Tamils in the island nation.

Mr Vaiko, who will be on a fast here tomorrow to protest against the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, told reporters that he met Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee this morning and lodged a formal complaint against Mr Menon.

Mr Menon ''owes an explanation'' for reportedly telling Mr Rajapakse during his just-concluded visit to Colombo that all his (Menon's) Tamil friends there were killed by the LTTE, the MDMK leader said.

Mr Rajapakse reportedly made a press statement in Colombo on Friday. He had said, ''Mr Menon, who has served as Indian High Commissioner here in the 1990s, knows the situation very well. All his Tamil friends here have been killed by the LTTE and he was telling me only widows of his friends are left.'' Mr Menon's observation, if at all it had been made, is ''totally unwarranted and biased with illwill hurting the sentiments of Tamils.

I would request you to get a clarification from the Foreign Secretary in this regard,'' Mr Vaiko said.

Mr Menon had obviously gone beyond the government brief on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue, he said.

The MDMK leader said he had, in August, complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against Mr Narayanan after the NSA had met a Mr Douglas Devananda, who according to Mr Vaiko was a ''stooge'' of the Sri Lankan government.

But Mr Narayanan went ahead with arranging a meeting between Mr Devananda and Dr Singh on the sidelines of the NAM summit at Havana in September, he said. Mr Devananda, who had accompanied Mr Rajapakse, shook hands with the Prime Minister at Havana, Mr Vaiko said.

Not only this, Mr Vaiko also virtually held Mr Narayanan and Mr Menon responsible for ''scuttling'' a meeting between the Prime Minister and Sri Lankan Tamil MPs, who were here for 20 days after seeking an appointment with Dr Singh.

The MDMK leader said his party was staging the fast by about 1,000 party volunteers from Tamil Nadu as the hands of the Sri Lankan President was stained by the blood of Tamils who were being subjected to genocide by the island government.

Mr Vaiko, who had met Dr Singh on Friday, urged Mr Mukherjee today not to approve any joint patrolling of Palk Straits by the Navies of India and Sri Lanka. ''A war will break out'' if a joint patrolling was undertaken, he said.

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