Declare Rajapakse a war criminal: Jayalalithaa tells Centre

(May 14, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Set to form the next government in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa today said the Centre should declare Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse a "war criminal" for the "genocide" of Tamils in the island nation.

India should come out with economic sanctions against Sri Lanka to compel the government to take steps to mitigate the sufferings of Sri Lankan Tamils and provide them "an honourable and decent life," she told Jaya TV.

She said the State Government's role on Sri Lankan Tamils' issue was limited and it was for the Centre to do something for the betterment of the Tamils.

Jayalalithaa, whose party led front scored a spectacular victory in the assembly polls, said her first priority would be to restore the state to its prime position in the country.

She said the top agenda for her government would be to restore "law and order" which had "totally deteriorated".

Jayalalithaa, set to become chief minister for a third term, said her aim was to implement all her poll promises, including nationalisation of multi-system cable TV operators, within 18 months of assuming office.

Jayalalithaa replied in the affirmative when asked whether she expected the landslide victory.

She said she could gauge the mood of the people and that was why she had been maintaining that her party would get a landslide victory and ignored predictions by poll surveys, the AIADMK leader said.

"The people were waiting for an appropriate moment to vent their anger. They had done it now," she said.

Jayalalithaa thanked the people for voting her party to power and the Election commission for conducting free and transparent polls in the state.

She said the state had been pushed into a debt trap with a borrowing of Rs one lakh crore. "The state's treasury is empty and I have to start from the scratch. Restructuring a house is an easier job but building a house is a tough task. We are entrusted with such a tough task," she said. 

-Indian Express

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