Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar told his Sri Lankan counterpart GL Peiris who is on a three-day visit to India that the island nation’s Tamil minority are an important part of Sri Lanka and the Lankan government must ensure equality and justice for the community.
Jaishankar raised the matter with Peiris, who is working very closely to improve bilateral relations. Peiris’ first visit to India in his current term followed several steps by New Delhi to help Colombo cope with a severe economic crisis.
“Recalling the positive impact of India’s developmental and rehabilitation support, [Jaishankar] emphasised that Sri Lanka’s interests are best served by ensuring equality, justice, peace and respect for the Tamil people within a united Sri Lanka. Devolution of power is an important aspect of this process,” the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
“Both sides reiterated the longstanding consensus to handle fishermen issue through humanitarian approach and refrain from the use of violence in dealing with incidents along the IMBL (international maritime boundary line). They agreed that bilateral mechanisms should meet early, starting with the joint working group on fisheries,” the statement said.
India has always had the best interests of Tamils in Sri Lanka and raised the issue of devolution of powers to Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority as part of efforts to address the situation after the long civil war came to an end the island nation.
Peiris told HT his country is looking to address this matter through a new Constitution being drafted and said any solution to this issue should be “implementable on the ground” backed up by national consensus.
India recently extended a $500-million line of credit to Sri Lanka to help purchase fuel as it is reeling under a foreign exchange and energy crisis.
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