India takes up Tamils issue with Sri Lanka

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday discussed the rehabilitation of Tamils and other bilateral issues.

Official sources said while Mr. Rajapaksa detailed the steps being taken for rehabilitation, India wanted Sri Lanka to act decisively on arriving at a political settlement to bridge the ethnic divide.

Both sides reviewed the decisions taken at the previous summit meeting, including restoring the railway infrastructure and Colombo noted that the paperwork for the $ 800-million credit line was over.

Port modernisation

India had completed a survey of the Kankesanthurai port and was preparing a report for its modernisation. The paperwork for modernising the Palaly airport was over and the project to build 50,000 houses in the war-torn areas had taken off.

Sri Lanka appreciated the help extended by Indian civil society organisations in rehabilitating war widows and providing assistance to farmers in the northern and eastern areas in sowing the fields after the end of the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

During the interaction on Friday and the one held a day earlier between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his Sri Lankan counterpart G.L. Peiris, New Delhi stressed that Colombo initiate inclusive initiatives to ensure that the minorities did not feel alienated.

The meeting between Dr. Singh and Mr. Rajapaksa also focussed on the issue of “genuine devolution.” New Delhi wanted Colombo to treat Provinces as the unit of devolution.

With this goal, Sri Lanka should activate the provision of a Finance Commission in the 13th Amendment to ensure that the provinces are financially viable.

They also discussed the problem of fishermen and the need to avoid violence, including firing on them by the security forces of either country.

Officials said Mr. Rajapaksa primarily came to attend the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games and there was “no significant new agenda.” The two sides mainly went through the “pending issues,” they said.

MoU on ferry services

B. Muralidhar Reddy

reports from Colombo:

India and Sri Lanka initialled a memorandum of understanding for resumption of ferry services between Colombo and Tuticorin and Talaimannar and Rameswaram.

A statement by the Indian High Commission in Colombo said a delegation led by Secretary in the Ministry of Shipping K. Mohandas held discussions on October 14 and 15 on the MoU on ferry services.

The two sides met consequent to the decision contained in the Joint Declaration issued on June 9 following the talks between Mr. Rajapaksa and Dr. Singh on the need to speedily restore the traditional links between the two countries and to resume the ferry services, the statement said.