By The Hindu –
Sri Lanka upset over Indian UN vote , says MP
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had given an assurance of withdrawing the army from civilian areas at the earliest to the Indian joint parliamentary delegation, which visited the country between April 16 and 21.
Virudhunagar MP Manicka Tagore, who was among the four Congress MPs from Tamil Nadu in the delegation, told reporters here on Sunday that in the North, where the army had been camped in strength, even small events required military approval.
Headed by Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, the committee met several top Sri Lankan Government officials besides Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan and other Tamil leaders.
The main objective of the committee, he said, was to ascertain the progress in implementing programmes being carried out with over Rs. 25,000 crore of Indian assistance. While some progress had been made, he said that there was still a long way to go.
De-mining operations
He said that only 6,500 people were in the internally displaced person (IDP) camps which initially held over 2.90 lakh persons.
The remaining persons would return to their homes once de-mining operations, being carried out with Indian assistance, were completed in the last five villages. The Sri Lankan rehabilitation officials assured that the process would be completed by June 30. While Sri Lanka was still upset over the Indian vote in the United Nations, the Virudhunagar MP said that they understood India’s point of view.
India had recently supported a United States-sponsored resolution at the U.N.’s top human rights body censuring Sri Lanka for its alleged rights violations during the war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
When the committee took up the issue of implementing the 13 Amendment, Mr. Rajapaksa had said that it was being taken up by the Parliamentary Select Committee, which the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had so far been reluctant to join.
Devolution of political powers was stressed during the meeting, he said as the TNA leaders had raised the issue of holding elections in North.
On the issue of attacks on Indian fishermen, Mr. Tagore said that they had met Sri Lankan fishermen, who claimed that, their Indian counterparts were trespassing and using sophisticated equipment for deep sea fishing.
“The Indian and Sri Lankan Governments are trying to evolve a mechanism in which the fishermen on both sides could sit together and sort out this issue,” he added.
Madurai Airport
In order to improve people-to-people contacts between the two countries, the Sri Lankan President had also assured the Indian MPs that a flight between Colombo and Madurai would be launched soon.
sjv chelvanayakam / April 24, 2012
Pure madness… The army must stay where it is.. it took over 30 years for the Army to get our Nothern Island.. These are the same civilian areas where the Indian Trained terrorist come and go with weapons.. The Lankan army should not take ONE STEP BACK.. from our own Land.. This is nothing to do with Bogus Human Rights.. This is a question of National security.. NOT A STEP BACK….
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Gowrie / April 28, 2012
sjv chelvanayagam is a dead man. why hide behind a ghost? An army against defenseless people? If defenseless people of North and East are a threat to your national security Then Your National Security couldn’t be taken seriously..Pathetic!
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Vasu / April 24, 2012
SJV, do not misuse some names which has characters, come out and publish your opinion in your own name
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gamini / April 25, 2012
These are the compatriots who parade as the patriots and saviours of Sri Lanka but are the invertebrates who have to seek refuge under dead Tamil’s names instead.
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Rubert Vanderkoon / April 25, 2012
Vasu,
What a strange request!! Why do you look at the name, or are names patented to individuals? I have a friend called V.Prabhakaran, should he change his name as well? Do you really need the ID of the person to analyse or criticise the comment? After all, what is in a name!
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Rohan / April 25, 2012
Lost in translation, I guess.
Sushma and the MPS suggested that Mahinda would be glad to implement the 13th Amendment. But…
“The Island that reported that the issue of implementing the 13-plus was not even raised at the meeting between Ms. Swaraj and Mahinda Rajapaksa. “The Sri Lankan Government yesterday strongly denied a statement attributed to Indian Opposition Leader, Sushma Swaraj that her delegation had received an assurance from President Mahinda Rajapaksa of his commitment to the 13th Amendment and his readiness to go even beyond it,” the newspaper reported on Tuesday.
“GoSL sources said that President Rajapaksa had met the Indian Opposition Leader twice on Friday and Saturday, but such an assurance was never given or asked for.
“During Saturday’s breakfast meeting at Temple Trees, President Rajapaksa recalled how India had forced the 13th Amendment on the then Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene.
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K. C. John / April 25, 2012
In this age of advanced electronic media, are these discussions not recorded?
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The last dinasaur / April 25, 2012
Whether the president has assured the withdrawal of army from north or not.. the army will not be withdrawn…
The mere reason is that the cruel Rajapakse regime knows that the entire tamil community will rise against the brutal oppression on them.Most of the countries in the world would recognize such uprising (Eg – Syria & Libya) and it would finally lead to the creation of Eelam.
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sjv chelvanayakam / April 25, 2012
the only place eelam will be in the grave yards.. as over centuries we Lankans have stood up and time and again defeated this evil.. and we will do it again, and again and again..
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Proud Lankan / April 25, 2012
MR regime will soon be burn in hell. The day is near.
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Kingsley / April 25, 2012
If the Army does not withdraw, then UN will send its international troops and will do the needful
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Amda / April 30, 2012
since government has made the space to do it.
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Boddhi.R.M. Ranasinghe / April 25, 2012
When thugs rule how can you expect the rule of law to prevail. Buddha will run away if he hears the language used by the so called Buddhist monks.The Dambulla “monk” is a disgrace to the religion and should be disrobed.
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Kingsley / April 26, 2012
Britain who amalgamated the 3 kingdoms (one of which was Tamil)
when leaving the island made the mistake of trusting the Sinhala
politicians to rule the country giving equal rights to every citizen
irrespective of ethnicity (and religion).
Every Goverment after independence discrim inated the Tamils, and now
the Muslims.
High time the UN intervenes and solve the ethnic problem.
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Punchinilame / April 27, 2012
Whatever one has to say at this juncture, it is plain fact that the
Sinhalese were the cause of the present situation then and now. It
requires a Statesman (non are available in SL) to set things right
and it will not cause harm to Sinhalese as they are more than protected
by the Constitution, except for what is provided in the 18th Amendment!
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hansan / April 27, 2012
We don’t have to withdraw the Army Just because some one tell us. We will have to see how the People’s behavier and what sort of demands the Tamil people will ask. We know they have lot of demands and best more than the Southen people wants. Better keep the Army for some time untill Our Govt who ever it is feel the time is ripe.
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