Vaiko slams Pranab's statement on Sri Lankan Tamils issue

MDMK leader Vaiko claimed on Thursday that external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement in parliament rejecting demands for India's intervention to halt the military offensive in Sri Lanka proved his charge that New Delhi was extending tacit support to the island government.

"My charge that India is extending tacit support to Sri Lanka in the ongoing war had been proved by his (Mukherjee's) statement. He had accused LTTE of keeping over 70,000 Tamils under its custody, hiding the fact that Sri Lankan Army was killing lakhs of Tamils," Vaiko charged in a statement here reacting to Mukherjee's statement made on Wednesday.

Vaiko, a strong supporter of the Tigers, also condemned Mukherjee's remarks that the LTTE had harmed the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils.

On the economic package proposed by the Centre for rehabilitation of Tamils, he questioned the purpose of such a relief when Tamils areas in Sri Lanka were being "converted into burial grounds".