Lanka assures India displaced civilians will be resettled soon

Ajay Kaul

Phuket (Thailand), July 22 (PTI) With India seeking early
rehabilitation of three lakh displaced Tamil civilians, Sri
Lanka Wednesday assured it that it would complete the process
soon along with that of devolution of power.

The issue was discussed in detail during a meeting
between India's External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his
Sri Lankan counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama here.

Krishna told Bogollagama that India was ready to help in
whatever way Sri Lanka wanted.

The External Affairs Minister told reporters that India
wants Sri Lanka to accord top priority to the resettlement of
the Tamil civilians displaced due to the 30-year-old civil war
there and expressed readiness to help Colombo in this regard.
"We are in close touch with the Sri Lankan Government."

Sri Lanka has assured that the resettlement would be
undertaken in 180 days after the end of war. "We hope Sri
Lanka will be able to do that," Krishna said.

He said India was ready to assist Sri Lanka in resettling
the displaced Tamil civilians. "They have promised us that
they will resettle the displaced civilians soon."

Bogollagama later told a select group of reporters that
rehabilitation programme has made "significant progress" and
we are going to "realise" it.

On devolution of powers, he said it is in the
Constitution and its implementation is part of the process.
PTI AKK