New Delhi, Dec 10 (Inditop.com) Sri Lanka Thursday assured India that it will resettle around 300,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians before the end of January 2010 and reiterated its commitment to a political process that can lead to “lasting peace and reconciliation” in the island nation.
A high-level Sri Lankan team led by Basil Rajapaksa, member of parliament and senior adviser to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which concluded its two-day visit to India Thursday, briefed top Indian officials about steps taken by Colombo to resettle the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in their original places of habitation.
The Lankan team also included Lalith Weeratunga, secretary to the president, and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. They met National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan,, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar. They also called on External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.
“The Sri Lankan side mentioned that more than 158,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have since left the camps and around 115,000 remained,” a joint press statement said here.
“They indicated their resolve to resettle the IDPs before end-January 2010,” the statement said.
The Sri Lankan government had set a 180-day deadline for resettling IDPs after the Lankan forces defeated the LTTE in May, bringing to an end decades-long insurgency in the island nation.
India welcomed the initial steps taken by Colombo to relax movement and travel restrictions on IDPs and hoped that the displaced “would resume their livelihood and return to a life of normalcy.”
To ensure quick resettlement of the IDPs, the Indian side stressed that it had enhanced the number of Indian de-mining teams in the area, provided additional quantity of shelter material and agricultural starter packs and was now in the process of providing cement bags for reconstruction of damaged houses of IDPs.
Colombo profusely thanked India for its assistance, that included the 60-member Indian Field Hospital at Menik Farm, Vavuniya, where more than 50,000 patients were treated and 250,000 family packs sent by the government of Tamil Nadu to Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan side agreed with India on the need for quickening a political solution to the decades-old ethnic dispute.
“Both sides recognized the importance of sustaining peace and moving towards a political solution in Sri Lanka. The Indian side welcomed the holding of local elections in Jaffna and Vavuniya,” the joint statement said.
“Both sides agreed on the need for political arrangements which would serve the legitimate interests and meet the aspirations of all Sri Lankan citizens,” the statement said.
The Sri Lankan side, the statement said, reiterated the commitment of the government of Sri Lanka to a political process that would lead to lasting peace and reconciliation.
The two sides also agreed to continue their discussions on the draft memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation in fisheries.
The visit takes place against the backdrop of intense feelings in India over the rehabilitation of Tamil civilians who are presently living in crowded refugee camps. The issue flared in parliament a few days ago when senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj quoted a renowned poet to say that if she did not raise the issue of the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils, her soul would be dead.
Swaraj also recalled watching a video of a Tamil man being mercilessly beaten by the police and being pushed to drown in the sea.
