Wigneswaran kicks off India visit

Saturday, 8 November 2014 00:29 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, yesterday arrived in Chennai, marking his first visit to India after taking office. The former judge is scheduled to address the K.G. Kannabiran Memorial Lecture on Sunday organised by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). An official communication said the lecture will be delivered by C.V. Wigneswaran, Chief Minister, Northern Province, Sri Lanka, and former Judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. He will talk on ‘Safeguarding security and sovereignty’. The program will be held at Vidyodaya School, T. Nagar, and will begin at 11 a.m. Kannabiran was one of India’s well-known human rights activists, thinkers and lawyers. For nearly 40 years he fought against state violence and police impunity and for the democratic rights of the marginalised. Speaking on the event in memory of the eminent civil rights activist, the PUCL’s National General Secretary V. Suresh said the organisers had chosen Wigneswaran because of his stature as a “visionary intellectual who combines the best of jurisprudence with a keen understanding of democracy, politics and economics.” In his first visit to India after assuming charge as Chief Minister of the Northern Province in 2013, Wigneswaran may also visit New Delhi, though it is not confirmed if he will participate in official meetings there. In August, a delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) – an amalgam of Tamil parties which is in power in the Northern Province — met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Wigneswaran was not on the delegation then but the visiting members discussed the possibility of the Chief Minister meeting Modi on a future date. The TNA and Wigneswaran have sought India’s intervention in ensuring that the Sri Lankan Government implements the 13th Amendment and goes beyond, as was promised by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Chief Minister has repeatedly expressed concerns over inadequate devolution of powers by the Sri Lankan Government, increasing militarisation of the north and controversies over private land being taken over by the Sri Lankan army.

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