DMK Govt not sleeping over Lankan Tamils issue: Karunanidhi

Chennai, Oct 3 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today said the DMK government would not ''sleep over'' on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue or any other issue and has taken up with the Centre to end attacks on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy.

Taking exception to CPI leader R Nallakannu's remarks that the DMK government should not ''sleep over'' on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, Mr Karunanidhi, answering a set of questions here, expressed surprise that the senior leader had made such remarks.

He said even in the recent Assembly session, the government had adopted a resolution, urging the Centre to take all steps to protect the Lankan Tamils.

''Not only on the Tamils issue, the government has not slept over on any other issue and will not sleep,'' he said adding when the Assembly adopted a resolution, seeking to protect the Tamils on April 23, no CPI MLA spoke on the issue in the House, he said.

''Just because the CPI MLAs did not speak on the issue, can we say, they slept over the issue,'' the Chief Minister asked.

Mr Nallkannu, while addressing the one-day fast, organised by the party here yesterday, to condemn the attack on Lankan Tamils by the island forces, had said Tamil Nadu government should no longer ''sleep over'' the issue.

Mr Karunanidhi also criticised former AIADMK Minister and DMDK Presidium Chairman Panruti S Ramachandran for his remarks in the fast that the Chief Minister should not demean the Tamils issue.

He said Mr Ramachandran had no right to accuse him as the leader, in his address to the United Nations, had said ''we confined ourselves only to the extent of flow of refugees from Sri Lanka.

We neither criticised the policies of Sri Lanka nor criticised actions of the Lankan government. We do not propose and we do not intent to intervene in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.'' On CPI's charge that attack on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy continued unabated, Mr Karunanidhi referred to reports that India and Sri Lanka have agreed to evolve a mechanism to resolve the issue.

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