India urges Sri Lanka to act decisively and devolve powers to Tamils
New Delhi: India has urged Sri Lanka to act decisively and devolve powers to Tamils, which would help in winning the hearts and minds of the minority community, as promised by President Mahinda Rajapaksa before the
Presidential elections. "Now that everything is over --Presidential elections,
parliamentary elections -- its time for President Rajapaksa to act decisively
to win over Tamils so that their concerns are taken care of," said External Affairs
Minister S M Krishna, while addressing the media persons here. Krishna had on
Thursday 'sustained' discussions with his Lankan counterpart G L Peiris who is
visiting India for discussions on devolution and rehabilitation of internally
displaced Tamils. Krishna told reporters: "I had a meeting with Sri Lankan Foreign
Minister and had sustained dialogue with him on the question of rehabilitation
of the internally displaced people. The number of internally displaced has come
down according to Sri Lanka Foreign Office; the number has come down to 20, 000
IDP's." Krishna said that it was in the long-term interest of Sri Lanka to bring
homogeneity between Tamil Sri Lankans and Sinhalese Sri Lankans. "Integration
needs to be worked out," he added.
