India-Sri Lanka ferry service resumes amid tensions
Former Tamil rebel child soldiers stretch during a cricket camp in Colombo on March 19, 2010, held as part of a UNICEF-backed program to rehabilitate underage combatants.
Even as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu calls for economic sanctions, ferry service resumed from the South Indian state to Sri Lanka after a hiatus of 30 years, the BBC reports.
The Scotia Prince can carry more than 1,000 people. It has a bar, restaurant and casino, the news channel said.
Ferries were suspended during the Sri Lankan civil war, which ended in 2009.
After the Scotia Prince's maiden voyage, bringing invited VIPs, there will be about two crossings each way per week.
Earlier this week, Tamil Nadu's newly elected chief minister, the AIADMK's Jayalalitha, demanded that India enforce economic sanctions against Sri Lanka to pressure the island nation to submit to an investigation of war crimes allegations, leveled by a UN panel, the Hindustan Times reported.
Many Tamil refugees fled to India and settled in Tamil Nadu during the Sri Lankan civil war, and the state's Tamil population has had strong sympathy with the plight of their Sri Lankan compatriots over the years.
Prior to Jayalalitha's pressure on the government, India had remained mostly silent regarding the war crimes allegations, concerned about China's strengthening diplomatic ties with its southern neighbor.
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