CHENNAI, Oct 24: Hundreds of Tamils marched in the streets of a southern Indian city on Friday to protest against the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka, as a regional political group pressured the Indian government to stop the war.

Protesters braved heavy rains and linked arms in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state. “Save the Tamils, stop the battle,” they shouted.

Sri Lanka’s intensifying offensive against the LTTE, which it has fought since 1983 in one of Asia’s longest insurgencies, has roiled India’s political scene and prompted heated diplomatic exchanges between the two neighbours.

Two Tamil politicians were arrested on Thursday by the Indian police for speaking publicly in support of the LTTE rebels.

Last week, a group of Indian lawmakers, whose support is crucial to the government, handed their resignation letters to their party chief, saying they could not continue in a government that was not reacting to the sufferings of the Tamils.

The Indian government urged Sri Lanka to solve the issue through dialogue.

But the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party (DMK) which organised Friday’s rally has called regular protests, and thousands of people from the Tamil film industry also thronged to an island in the state this week to protest against Sri Lanka.

The lawmakers’ resignation could force a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government if the letters reach the speaker in India’s parliament.

But experts have described the threats to resign as only political posturing.

“By resigning, they are playing to the galleries and putting pressure on the government, which is very unfortunate,” Bhaskara Rao, a political analyst said in New Delhi.

The Tigers in Sri Lanka figure on US, European Union and Indian terrorism lists for widespread bombings and assassinations.

In 1991, they were charged with killing India’s former Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lanka has vowed to crush the Tamil Tigers militarily.—Reuters