CHENNAI: Describing the visit of an Indian MPs’ delegation to Sri Lanka, scheduled for April 16-21, as a mere formality aimed at creating an opinion in favour of the island nation, Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday pulled out her party’s representative from the team.“Since I believed that the visit of Indian MPs will be a solace to Lankan Tamils and will help us know the ground realities regarding rehabilitation works there, I deputed AIADMK MP W Rabi Bernard. But the delegation’s agenda gives an impression that the visit is just a formal one and does not give importance to interacting with people affected by the war. On the contrary, much importance is being given to meetings and banquets with Lankan political leaders and officials, including Lankan President (Mahinda) Rajapakse,” the CM said in a three-page statement here.Jayalalithaa also said the absence of mediapersons, human rights activists and independent observers had added to her suspicions about the very purpose of the visit.“I feel the proposed visit of Indian MPs will be an eyewash akin to that undertaken a couple of years ago by DMK president M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and some other MPs. That delegation enjoyed the banquet laid out by the Lankan President and returned home with gifts offered by him,” Jayalalithaa said.She listed Rajapakse government’s several improprieties as reasons for pulling out the AIADMK MLA from the team, namely its unwillingness to accept even the mild resolution moved by the US before the UNHRC; failure to stop recurrence of attacks on Tamil Nadu’s fishermen by the Lankan Navy; opposition to the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant; its anti-Tamil activities and absence of change in attitude towards Lankan Tamils. The CM also expressed disappointment that the MPs’ visit does not include discussions with the Lankan President on the rehabilitation and resettling of the Tamils in that nation.
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