Sri Lanka has assured the 10 member delegation from Tamil Nadu that 58,000 Sri Lankan Tamils currently interned in the barbed wire camps will be resettled in their homes from Thursday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said Wednesday.
"The resettlement will be done in phases and cannot be done in one go, there are 253,000 Tamils living in the camps and they will be sent back to their original places in phases - that is the assurance the MPs team got from Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa," the Chief Minister told reporters in Chennai.
Karunanidhi expressing satisfaction at the Sri Lanka government's response to the team of MPs said the first phase of resettlement of internally displaced people (IDP) will start Thursday and will be completed in 15 days.
The MPs delegation returned back to Chennai on Wednesday evening after its five-day tour to Sri Lanka. CM Karunanidhi received the delegation led by T.R.Balu at the airport. The team briefed him on its tour.
The MPs delegation in its meetings with the Sri Lankan president and other officials stressed the importance of resettling the people held in camps in their original places, Karunanidhi said.
He added that Rajapaksa did not indicate any time frame to find a political solution for the ethnic problem in the country.
"The MPs team also urged the Sri Lankan government to hand over the children orphaned in the war to NGOs. The Sri Lankan government has assured that steps are being taken in this regard," Karunanidhi said.
He further said that the state government will urge the Indian government to render more help to Sri Lanka to complete the demining of the areas so that the people remaining in the camps can be resettled at the earliest.
"The Sri Lankan government requested the MPs to get from the Indian government further assistance in the form of food items, building materials, agricultural implements," he said.
The delegation also discussed on the issue of the Sri Lankan Navy attacking Indian fishermen, Sri Lanka has assured that such attacks will not happen and has also requested the cooperation of the Indian government on this count.
The sri Lankan President is famous for giving many assurances and promises to the international community, including to high ranking persons like Secretary general of United Nations. But up to now none of his promises were fullfilled.
Tamil circles wonder whether the president is genuine in his promise to Tamil Nadu delegation, will it be another ploy to deceive the international community and receive the GSP Plus trade concession to Sri Lanka? Will Karunanidhi be able to assure the Tamil Community on this?
