Vasan opposes training of Sri Lankan military personnel in India

 
B. KOLAPPAN-CHENNAI, September 1, 2012

Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan protested against the training of two Sri Lankan military personnel in India and demanded that they be sent back immediately

G.K. Vasan. Photo: M. Vedhan

Union Shipping Minister and Congress strongman in Tamil Nadu G.K. Vasan on Saturday added his voice to the growing clamour against the training of Sri Lankan military personnel in India and demanded that the two officers, now in the country, should be sent back immediately.

Mr. Vasan said his party unit in the State was in full agreement with other political parties on this issue and would soon meet Defence Minister A.K. Antony to press the demand.

“The Congress party in the State is firm that Sri Lankan Army officials should not be given training in the country and the two officials who are already being trained in the Defence Staff Services College, Wellington, should be sent back immediately,” he told reporters in Chennai.

He was here in connection with the curtain raiser for the International Exhibition on Shipping, Ports, Maritime Technology and Logistics to be held in Goa in October.

Almost all political parties have expressed their objection to the training given to the two Sri Lankan officials. DMK president M. Karunanidhi, a constituent of the Congress-led UPA, and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to halt the training going on in Wellington.

Asked about the Union Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju’s clarification that the training was going on because Sri Lanka was a friendly nation, Mr. Vasan said the Congress would see to it that such training did not take place in the future.

“I have already discussed the issue with Mr. Antony and will meet him again to find a permanent solution to the issue,” he stressed.

Mr. Vasan accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of crippling the functioning of the Parliament with ulterior political motives on the alleged coal scam, saying it was the Chief Ministers of the BJP-ruled States who were opposed to the auctioning of coal blocks in the beginning.

“When a new system was introduced, they again raised their objection. They have no motive other than opposing the Congress government. Parliament is not a place for creating trouble, but a forum for discussing people’s issues. The attitude of the BJP is anti-people and anti-development,” he alleged.