“They were concerned about the speedy resettlement of IDPs but were also appreciative of the actions taken by the government so far," a statement released by the Sri Lanka President's office after the 10-member Tamil Nadu delegation met the President Mahinda Rajapakse said.
A report on the yesterday's meeting posted on the Presidential Secretariat web site said: “They came with a different mindset but having visited the welfare centres for IDPs, they are returning with a more positive attitude, said the Tamil Nadu MPs when they met the President.”
On an invitation from Mr. Rajapakse, the Tamil Nadu ruling delegation visited on Sunday the refugee camps in Vavuniya, and the Jaffna peninsula and on Monday the plantations in Kandy. Yesterday they met the president. During the meeting the delegation thanked the President for the invitation and appreciated the arrangements made for its visit.
When the delegation expressed fears about the coming monsoon rains, Basil Rajapakse senior adviser to President assured the delegation that within two days the crowding in the centres would start reducing with increased resettlement and steps had been taken to ensure that no hardships were caused to the IDPs.
Regarding the resettlement, the President stressed that de-mining must be done first before any resettlement.
“With regard to discussions on a political settlement to the ethnic question, the President said any settlement must be one that is accepted by all communities and by Sri Lanka’s neighbour,” the report said.
The MPs also met Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremenayake and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse.
Before returning to Chennai on Wednesday the delegation will meet Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The UNP while welcoming the move of the delegation to meet the IDPs in the camps said the visit should help the displaced persons come out of the camps and live a normal life.
UNP in its statement said “Before the war all communities lived amicably, which was disrupted by the cruel war. Now that the war is over, steps should be taken to resettle the IDPs and accelerate their return to normal life. The south Indian MPs must play a vital role towards achieving this goal.”
Meanwhile the visit of the Indian MPs' delegation from Tamil Nadu to the brimming refugee camps of northern Sri Lanka was a broad stroke of political and diplomatic symbolism, said the 'Hindustan Times'.
The visit was aimed at reassuring vote banks in TN that the situation of the displaced Tamils was being monitored; India did not intervene to save the isolated and cornered LTTE but it would not step back from safeguarding the rights of the Tamil community, HT said.
The Hindustan Times article opined that allowing the India MPs to visit refugee camps could be interpreted as the Mahinda Rajapakse regime’s way of telling India that Sri Lanka understands the political sensitivities of a giant neighbour.
The MPs who had come to see the state of the Vanni IDPs held in SLA internment camps were taken in procession with percussion band when they visited Jaffna.
Minister Douglas Devananda, Northern Province Governor and former Jaffna SLA Commander, G. A. Chandrasiri and Ruling UPFA Jaffna Mayor, Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam received the MPs and joined the procession.
In Jaffna, Jaffna University students expressed their anger and blamed the Central Government of India for crushing the voice of the people of Tamil Nadu when they rose in unison for the sake of Eezham Tamils.
The measured response of the MPs to issues raised by representatives of various organizations revealed that they were trying to guard their hosts at the expense of the suffering Eeham Tamils in SLA internment camps, sources in Jaffna said.
Meanwhile in the Jaffna meeting TNA members told the Tamil Nadu delegates that India should pressure Colombo to resettle all the displaced people in their own places, that is the real development.
In Colombo Tamil circles were disappointed with the MPs honouring the Sri Lankan president with shawl. They said it showed as Tamil Nadu accepted the treatment metered out to Tamils during and after the conflict by the president and his government.
And finally like many others who visited Sri Lanka, they came, accepted the grand welcome organized by the government and its allies, enjoyed their stay and in return gave an acceptance certificate to the government for its handling of Tamils and they went.
The DMK was used in the ploy hatched by the India's ruling Congress and Sri Lankan Government to hoodwink the Tamil Nadu people and the international community. The visit only gave feed for the Sri Lankan government's propaganda machinery, while the displaced will continue to suffer in the locked up camps.
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