Will seek dual citizenship, separate homeland for SL Tamils: Jayalalithaa

24 April 2016 08:47 am

AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday asserted her party would take “continuous steps” to attain a separate homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka and demand that the Centre grant dual citizenship for refugees from the island nation living in the state, PTI reported.

Addressing a huge election rally, she said she has been continuously demanding an independent, international probe over war crimes and alleged genocide against Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Launching a diatribe against arch rival DMK over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, she alleged that DMK and Congress were together responsible for the destruction of Sri Lankan Tamils.

Noting that Sri Lankan Tamils have for long been living in and outside camps in Tamil Nadu, she said her regime was giving them all facilities.

She stressed that her party’s policy was that any repatriation should be voluntary and based on the choice of refugees “after the situation in Sri Lanka, including security aspects changes fully, (for the better)”.

Jayalalithaa accused DMK of staging “dramas” over the issue against their interests.

She recalled that the Tamil Nadu Assembly had passed several resolutions on the Sri Lankan issue moved by her.

Some of these included her demand for economic sanctions against Sri Lanka, an international probe against ‘war crimes’ and another related to a referendum (that she wanted to be sponsored by India in the UN forum) among Tamils on the question of a separate Eelam (Tamil homeland).