Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said India would use all its might to exert pressure on Sri Lanka to honour its commitment and provide equal rights and status to the suffering Lankan Tamils.
Talking to reporters after a felicitation function organised by the State Congress workers at the Party headquarters ‘Sathiyamurthy Bhavan’ here, Mr Chidambaram said India would urge the International community to exert pressure on Sri lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to honour his commitment on the Tamils issue.
He said India always favoured that Tamils should live in peace and enjoy equal rights and status on par with the majority Sinhalese population ”India will use its diplomatic powers to ensure that the Lankan Government honours its commitment”, he added.
On internal security, Mr Chidambram said there were insurgency in the northeast, the Maoist menace and terrorism.
”The government has zero tolerance policy towards terrorism and will spare no efforts to put an end to it”, he added.
On Women’s Reservation Bill, he said there would be no dilution of the decision to provide reservation to women and expressed hope that it would be passed successfully in Parliament without any hitch.
Mr Chidambaram, who was accorded a rousing reception, avoided questions on the State Congress leaders’ oft-repeated demand for a share in power in the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu. The ruling DMK has been thriving on the sole support of the Congress, which had been providing outside support, after DPA’s estranged allies like the PMK, MDMK and the two Left Parties switched over to the Opposition front prior to the May 13 Lok Sabha polls.
He refused to comment, when asked about the party sharing power in the state, but said ”we need coalition partners and we support them. However, at the same time, we should make our party strong”.
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