New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has refused to ban the training of Sri Lankan defence officers in India, an issue that every political party in Tamil Nadu has opposed. A Public Interest Litigation or PIL was dismissed by the judges who said "It is a matter of foreign policy. We won't interfere with the policy matters."
In August, after protests from Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, the Centre moved nine Lankan officers being trained at an Indian Air Force base in Chennai to another base across the border in Karnataka.
In August, Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju said, "Sri Lanka is a friendly foreign country and the training will go on. Sometimes there are objections raised by local governments which we have to take into consideration." The DMK, the second-largest ally in the ruling coalition at the Centre, had said it was upset with that statement. Today, the party said it will continue to urge the centre to end courses and training for Sri Lankan defence personnel. The Supreme Court has not said whether the centre should stop its programme, said TKS Ilangovan, the DMK spokesperson. He said the judges had expressed only their resistance to comment on policy measures.
Political parties in Tamil Nadu blame the Sri Lankan army for atrocities committed against Sri Lankan Tamils in the last few months of the island's civil war, which ended in May 2009. The armed forces defeated the rebel Lankan Tigers (LTTE), but many human rights bodies have said that Sri Lankan Tamils, who are a minority, were persecuted. In March this year, after pressure from the DMK, India supported a UN resolution which asked Sri Lanka to investigate alleged war crimes.