Karunanidhi a war criminal, says Jaya

CHENNAI: Karunanidhi is a "war criminal" who facilitated attacks against Sri Lankan civilian population not taking direct part in the hostilities, AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa said here on Thursday, saying that when the UN delegation visits Sri Lanka, an AIADMK team will present evidence to it that will indict Karunanidhi as a "war criminal".

"This is the least we can do for the souls of thousands of Tamils who died in the war, thanks to the machinations of this selfseeking merchant of death," she said.

Jayalalithaa, the leader of the Opposition in TN Assembly, said Chief Minister M Karunanidhi staged a "cheap drama" on April 27, 2009 by staging a fast and announced that he had received information from Sri Lanka that the war had stopped and his assurance that heavy arms would no longer be used resulted in the killings of thousands of people.

"The unfortunate Tamil civilians of Sri Lanka believed Karunanidhi and came out of their underground bunkers thinking the war had indeed ended, only to be mowed down by cluster bombs dropped by supersonic Sri Lankan Air Force jets. More than 50,000 civilians died in just two days," she said in her statement..

The Opposition leader said that international law held that "intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or against individual civilians, not taking direct part in hostilities" was a war crime. "By claiming that the war had ended, when it had not, and thereby exposing the hapless, unarmed civilian population of Sri Lankan Tamils to the destructive fury of the Lankan armed forces, Karunanidhi had facilitated the attacks against the civilian population who were not taking direct part in the hostilities. He is as guilty of war crimes as the Rajapaksa brothers and the Sri Lankan armed forces personnel," Jayalalithaa said.