Karthigesu Sivathamby, 77, emeritus professor in Jaffna university and secretary general of the International Association of Tamil Research (IATR), told the Times of India over telephone from Colombo that he had written to the Thanjavur Tamil University vice chancellor M Rajendran, who is coordinator for the international event, that Tamils in his country felt that "the chief minister has not responded well enough to the Sri Lankan Tamil crisis, and that Tamils expect a favourable response from him".

"I have told him that I'm in total agreement with this position. I wanted Prof Rajendran to convey this to the CM so that he can come up with a swift and suitable response," Sivathamby said, but did not elaborate on what sort of response he expected from Karunanidhi.

Asked whether he would participate in the conference in the wake of a section of Sri Lankan Tamils campaigning against holding the event in the immediate aftermath of thousands of Tamils dying in the last days of the war, the academician said the question did not arise now, as the conference was eight months away, and the main question is a suitable response to the perilous condition of Tamils in the island nation. He expressed his hope that the CM would respond suitably.

Karunanidhi had named Sivathamby as the head of the committee that would select papers for the main seminar, the centrepiece of the conference.