Punish Rajapaksa, say Tamil Nadu parties

Chennai, Jan 9: The MDMK and the PMK said Friday that outgoing Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa must be tried for war crimes. MDMK general secretary Vaiko also urged president-elect Maithripala Sirisena to free all Tamils from prisons. Tamil Nadu's political parties along with rights groups have accused Rajapaksa of killing thousands of Tamils in the end stages of the war that destroyed the Tamil Tigers in May 2009. PMK founder S. Ramadoss said he was happy Sri Lankans had "punished" Rajapaksa by defeating him. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu urged the new Sri Lankan government to implement the 13th amendment to its constitution to meet the aspirations of the Tamil minority.