April 28: NEW DELHI: India’s ruling Congress party on Monday insisted that Sri Lanka did not call off ‘combat operations’ against the Tamil Tigers due to Indian pressure, and instead credited the move to ‘world opinion’.

The Congress said there were no parallels between the Tamil Tigers demanding separation from Sri Lanka and the Bangladesh ceding from Pakistan.

Responding to questions by Tamil journalists regarding Indian military not intervening to help Tamils inhabiting in northern part of the island nation as it did in East Pakistan in 1971 under ‘identical circumstances’, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi asserted that India was not behind the ‘idea of Bangladesh’.

Soon after the Sri Lankan government announced that combat operations in the northern parts had reached a conclusion, there was rush in India to claim credit.

Singhvi said the Sri Lankan decision followed "collective world opinion in which India was in the vanguard".

He sought to dispel the impression that this followed pressure exerted by India in the wake of reports of widespread civilian casualties in the island nation.

"It is very, very important for a sovereign nation to exercise its sovereignty," Singhvi told reporters here, adding that people should not be "unnecessarily critical".

He said in response to a question that Sri Lanka was not a "subordinate mohalla or district within India’s jurisdiction". He described Sri Lanka as a sovereign and "a friendly neigbbouring country".

Earlier in a high-voltage drama, Southern Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, also the ruling Dravida Munitra Khazgam (DMK) leader, went on a sudden hunger strike. His party, which is part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), created an unsavoury situation for Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

Singh and his home minister P Chidambaram, who is camping in Tamil Nadu, later spoke to Karunanidhi, informing him of the Sri Lankan government’s agreement for "cessation of hostilities". Interestingly, the Tamil Nadu chief minister read out the Sri Lankan statement as he announced to call off his fast. The Tamil issue is proving to be a main election issue in Tamil Nadu, which sends 39 parliamentarians to the Lok Sabha. Rival All India Anna DMK chief J Jayalalitha has gone to the extent of supporting Tamil Tigers’ cause for a separate nation.

When a group of Tamil journalists stood up at the Congress party’s press briefing, Singhvi said the 1971 war with Pakistan was fought within Bangladesh due to conditions that existed between western and eastern parts of Pakistan.

He asked Tamil journalists not to assume Sri Lanka a subordinate "mohallah (colony) or a territory under your jurisdiction". He said a sovereign country had to be dealt with in accordance with the rules of international relations. "We cannot go calling to create a separate country within a sovereign country. If somebody was to give such advice to India, I ask you how you and India shall react to it?" he asked.

While giving credit to the UPA government’s persistent diplomatic efforts, the Congress spokesman said the decision also followed due to "collective world opinion in which India was in the vanguard".

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the other hand described the Tamil Nadu chief minister’s fast demanding ceasefire a ‘political stunt’. "Rather than taking tangible steps to rush relief to thousands of hapless Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Congress and the DMK are indulging in political theatrics," BJP spokesman Balbir Punj said.

No ceasefire: Meanwhile, Sri Lankan officials in the evening clarified that they had only announced that heavy calibre weapons and aerial bombardment would not be used while rescuing thousands of civilians trapped in the northern war zone. "There is no ceasefire. The government will go ahead with their operation to get the civilians out of the ‘no fire zone’, who are being held hostage by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (ETTE)," Media Centre for National Security Director General Lakshman Hullagulle said.

But the Congress insisted that their interpretation of the Sri Lankan statement was that there had been "temporary cessation of hostilities to facilitate rehabilitation and protection of certain section of the populace". The Congress spokesman said India was only concerned about innocent Tamil civilians, and was not an impediment in the Sri Lankan army’s campaign against the LTTE. (Daily Times)