Vaiko meets Modi, says Lankan violence against Tamils cannot be compared to Pakistan's

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief Vaiko met Prime Minster-designate Narendra Modi on Friday to request him not to invite Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to his oath taking ceremony, and added that Sri Lanka could not be compared with Pakistan, as the latter had not committed mass murders after the 1950's.

"I expect Modi to take this country to new heights. If Rajapaksha is present in the oath taking ceremony, I would not be able to accept it. They cannot equate Sri Lanka with Pakistan. Pakistan has not butchered and murdered people after the 1950's. Sri Lankan government did that," said Vaiko.

"I handed over the same letter to Modi which I had emailed yesterday, and the video cassette I released in Delhi, under the caption Genocide of 'Eelam Tamils Heart Bleeds'. I told him that Channel 4 has exposed the crime of genocide committed by Rajapaksha and his goons using their armed soldiers. Killings, rapes, murder of small children took place, our sisters and mothers were gang-raped," he said.

"I told Modi that Sonia Gandhi engineered everything using Manmohan Singh as a puppet and Rajapaksha said that the war had been conducted with the help of Indian parliament. UPA government is a co-accused in this crime. The US and UK backed resolution 6 was supported by many democracies which called for independent international investigations on the war and that India supported Pakistan and China over the issue. Arun Jaitley told me that the issue of Tamils in Srilanka is not just a Tamil problem, but a national problem; in that case they should prove it," he added.

India has invited leaders of all South Asian countries, including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Rajapakse to Modi's oath-taking ceremony scheduled for May 26.

The swearing-in ceremony, to be held at the forecourt of the historic Rashtrapati Bhavan, is likely to be attended by as many as 3,000 guests, the report added.