India’s Union Minister of State V Narayanasamy has confirmed to media that India is providing two warships to Sri Lanka under an agreement signed several years ago.
Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister J Jayalalitha has demanded that India cancels the sale, saying there is a deep sentiment amongst all sections of society that the Sri Lankan government must be held accountable for the genocide that was committed against Tamils.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Jayalalitha also said that the Sri Lankan Navy was intensifying their campaign against Indian Tamil fishermen.
“Given the strength of the public sentiment in Tamil Nadu, I was quite sure that the Government of India would not supply any military hardware to Sri Lanka, particularly naval warships which could be potentially deployed against Indian fishermen in the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar,” she said.
Narayanasamy insisted that if the ships are used against tamils, India would take suitable action.
“If Tamils were to be harmed by India giving the warships to Sri Lanka, then we will talk to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and take suitable action. The agreement to provide war ships to Sri Lanka was signed several years before,” he said.
“We have already advised Sri Lanka that the ships should not be used in any confrontation with Tamils, if it happened, we will inform the Prime Minister,
“Both Sinhalese and Tamil people must act in conformity with Sri Lankan constitution, the Congress Party does not like that country to be divided,” he said.