PM rubbishes talk of sending army to Lanka

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today rubbished the talk of sending army to Sri Lanka and favoured a political solution to the problem of Tamils within a united and federal set up, brushing aside the views of parties in Tamil Nadu, including ally DMK, pitching for a separate Eelam. "What is possible and what is not possible, I think it is a matter of speculation. But quite frankly we are dealing with a sovereign state Sri Lanka..a sovereign country. 

It is not so easy to march armies to a sovereign state," he told a press conference here.  He was replying to a question on AIADMK chief's Jayalalithaa's remarks that if a government of her choice comes to power after the elections, it would send army to Sri Lanka for creation of a separate Tamil Eelam state.  With AIADMK and its allies PMK and MDMK raising the stakes on the Eelam issue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi also joined the bandwagon for a separate homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka. 

 "There is such thing as international law and all those constraints I think are known to all those who are making tall promises," he said in an apparent reference to Jayalalithaa's recent election speeches.  The Prime Minister appeared to suggest that any action by India should not also make Sri Lanka go for other options.  Singh told the southern neighbour that there could be no military solution but only a negotiated political settlement which is fair to Tamils.