ID :
61741
Thu, 05/21/2009 - 20:57
Auther :
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https://www.oananews.org//node/61741
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Indian PM`s special envoys meet Rajapaksa
Colombo, May 21 (PTI) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's special envoys M K Narayanan and Shivshankar Menon
Thursday met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and sought
a political solution to the Tamil question while offering help
in the reconstruction effort following elimination of LTTE.
National Security Adviser Narayanan and Foreign
Secretary Menon, who arrived here Wednesday, met Rajapaksa at
a close door breakfast meeting at his Temple Trees residence.
Details of the meeting were not announced, but an
official source said they discussed post-conflict
reconstruction in Sri Lanka following the defeat of the LTTE.
The sources said India had offered help in the
reconstruction effort while nudging the government for a
political solution to the Tamil question as promised by the
President himself in his address to parliament on Tuesday.
India has prepared a Rs 500 crore rehabilitation
package for the displaced people in Sri Lanka.
Prime Minister has already announced a Rs 100-crore
relief package for Lankan Tamils in addition to the Rs 25
crore aid given by Tamil Nadu government.
India has been asking Sri Lanka to take political
steps to ensure "effective devolution of power" so that Tamils
in the island nation could live with dignity.
Reaching out to the Tamils during an address to
Parliament on Tuesday, Rajapaksa had said their protection was
the responsibility of his government.
"Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the
cruel grip of the LTTE. We all must now live as equals in this
free country," he had said.
"We must find a homegrown solution to this conflict.
That solution should be acceptable to all the communities,"
Rajapaksa had said, adding that "solution to the Tamil issue
will be found but not under international pressure."
"We have to build a united Sri Lanka where all can
live with equal rights," he said.
Sri Lanka has declared victory over the LTTE -- which
had been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for minority
Tamils -- after eliminating the top leadership including Tiger
supremo V Prabhakaran and seizing all the Tiger territory in
the north. PTI
Singh's special envoys M K Narayanan and Shivshankar Menon
Thursday met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and sought
a political solution to the Tamil question while offering help
in the reconstruction effort following elimination of LTTE.
National Security Adviser Narayanan and Foreign
Secretary Menon, who arrived here Wednesday, met Rajapaksa at
a close door breakfast meeting at his Temple Trees residence.
Details of the meeting were not announced, but an
official source said they discussed post-conflict
reconstruction in Sri Lanka following the defeat of the LTTE.
The sources said India had offered help in the
reconstruction effort while nudging the government for a
political solution to the Tamil question as promised by the
President himself in his address to parliament on Tuesday.
India has prepared a Rs 500 crore rehabilitation
package for the displaced people in Sri Lanka.
Prime Minister has already announced a Rs 100-crore
relief package for Lankan Tamils in addition to the Rs 25
crore aid given by Tamil Nadu government.
India has been asking Sri Lanka to take political
steps to ensure "effective devolution of power" so that Tamils
in the island nation could live with dignity.
Reaching out to the Tamils during an address to
Parliament on Tuesday, Rajapaksa had said their protection was
the responsibility of his government.
"Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the
cruel grip of the LTTE. We all must now live as equals in this
free country," he had said.
"We must find a homegrown solution to this conflict.
That solution should be acceptable to all the communities,"
Rajapaksa had said, adding that "solution to the Tamil issue
will be found but not under international pressure."
"We have to build a united Sri Lanka where all can
live with equal rights," he said.
Sri Lanka has declared victory over the LTTE -- which
had been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for minority
Tamils -- after eliminating the top leadership including Tiger
supremo V Prabhakaran and seizing all the Tiger territory in
the north. PTI
