Regretting the 'disunity' among political parties on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue,DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Friday appealed to all parties to speak in one voice and adopt an united stand on the subject. Writing in the DMK's mouthpiece 'Murasoli',Karunanidhi said a solution to the issue was elusive because of infighting among Tamil groups in the island republic. This fact cannot be forgotten and hiding the fact will not help in an amicable solution, he said. There is no unanimity here also on the issue. If all of us remain united,the Tamil race in Sri Lanka will be saved, he said. When an all party meeting held here two months back took a decision to ask all the MPs from the state to resign,it did not happen as only the DMK came forward to do so,he said. Even the human chain agitation organised by the DMK was boycotted by the main opposition AIADMK and its ally,MDMK,and these parties also did not participate in the all party delegation led by him to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,he said,adding that three resolutions,moved by him in the state assembly on the issue,were passed only after walkouts by the AIADMK. AIADMK also did not take part in the agitations organised by its allies and the DMK was not properly invited for the meetings conducted by these parties,Karunanidhi said. He said AIADMK should give up its current stand of non-cooperation and should follow the stand of its founder late M G Ramachandran,who sought the co-operation of all parties on the issue. Meanwhile,some leaders,who wanted the DMK to take an initiative on the issue,had sought to portray the DMK as being against a ceasefire in the island republic,he said,adding their remarks were behind the current disunity. In an apparent reference to actor-turned-politician Vijayakant's appeal to boycott the polls on the Sri Lanka Tamils issue,he said all parties should forget their political differences on this question as it did not have any connection with the Lok Sabha polls. He said the Centre was not a silent spectator as is evident from the statements of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram yesterday. The Centre had asked Sri Lanka to ensure the safety of civilian Tamils caught in the war zone in the north and while Mukherjee asked LTTE to allow civilians to cross over to safe zones,Chidambaram said we are deeply anguished at the loss of lives."
