Aid to Lanka -- Up to you, but don't forget '87, DMK tells PM

Aid to Lanka -- Up to you, but don't forget '87, DMK tells PM
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, MAY 5: Making things less complicated for the Centre, the DMK today gave a carte blanche to the Vajpayee government to deal with the situation in Sri Lanka as it deems fit but added a rider that whatever appropriate action is taken should be in the light of past experience.

The free hand of course does not extend to any military intervention by India. Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK chief M Karunanidhi said after a meeting with Prime Minister A B Vajpayee this afternoon that there should be no ``overflow'' of Sri Lankan developments into Tamil Nadu and the past should not be forgotten.

``It is the Government of India's privilege to take any appropriate action in the interest of the nation. We do not want to interfere in that,'' the chief minister said. In the same breath, he injected a note of caution by saying that though ``we do not want to tie the hands of the Centre'' the past should not be forgotten. Karunanidhi was, of course, referring to India's ``misadventure'' in Sri Lanka in 1987 when troops were sent to the island nation.

Karunanidhi's stand should come as a major relief for the Centre, especially in the light of reports that the BJP's key Tamil Nadu ally was miffed at not being consulted before the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on Wednesday. It will now be easier for the government to possibly silence the other Tamil Nadu allies like the MDMK of Vaiko and the PMK who are more strident in opposing any intervention in Sri Lanka including rendering humanitarian aid.

At today's meeting, the chief minister was accompanied by Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran. Union ministers Jaswant Singh, George Fernandes and L K Advani were also present.

Emerging from the meeting, Maran also echoed his leader's views when he said that his party would not come in the way of any appropriate action taken by the Centre. ``After all we are constituents of the NDA government,'' he added.

And as if to reassure the NDA's Tamil Nadu constituents, Jaswant Singh told reporters that ``there is no question of going the IPKF way.'' He said that the Centre wanted to make use of the wide experience of Karunanidhi in dealing with the Lankan situation. ``After all Tamil Nadu is closest to the Sri Lankan coast,'' he added.

Asked to comment on the specific issue of India rendering humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka, Maran was evasive while Singh termed it ``hypothetical.''