Sri Lanka nationalist organizations protest India's Eelam conference

Sri Lanka's Collective of Nationalist Organizations staged a demonstration march in the capital Colombo today to protest the Tamil Eelam Solidarity Organization (TESO) Conference that was scheduled to be held in Chennai today by the leader of the Tamil Nadu political party DMK.
The Chairman of Sri Lanka's Sinhala nationalist Patriotic National Movement Gunadasa Amarasekera called the TESO Conference an attempt by India's Tamil Nadu politicians to divide the country and is launched with the support of the central government of India. Patriotic National Movement was an active participant of the agitation held this morning before the Indian High Commission in Colombo in protest of the TESO conference. The activists carrying placards and shouting slogans marched to the High Commission and set fire to effigies of DMK leader M. Karunanidhi and Sri Lanka's Tamil National Alliance Leader R. Sampanthan. The Chairman of the Sinhala nationalist organization linked to government coalition party National Freedom Front added that their doubt is proved by the fact that Central government of India allowing to use the word 'Eelam' which means a 'separate homeland ' with the conference. India's central government Saturday reversed its earlier edict and told the court that it had no objection to using the word 'Eelam' in the title of the conference. India's Ministry of External Affairs a communication to TESO, however, has asked organizers to ensure the meet does not issue any "declaration or outcome calling into question the sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of any foreign country with which India has diplomatic relations." Amarasekera also commended Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa' recent statement calling upon the Indian government to have a relook at its dealings with its neighbors. In an interview with Times of India, President Rajapaksa, publicly displaying the disappointment over India's voting for the UN resolution against Sri Lanka in March, has suggested that India could be abdicating its leadership role in the region. "The region looks up to India but India must examine itself whether or not it is doing the right thing in its dealings with its neighbors... whether what they are doing is the best thing or not," the President has said in the interview.