Monday, 25 August 2014 00:10
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Government Minister and EPDP leader Douglas Devananda has backed calls by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a political solution for the Tamils based on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
Devananda said that over the past 20 years Governments in power in Sri Lanka have been impressed upon to provide a political solution for the Tamils based on the 13th Amendment.
However he noted that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which had met Modi in New Delhi yesterday, has been saying in the recent past that the 13th Amendment is not adequate to address the concerns of the Tamils.
At the meeting with the TNA, Modi had stressed on the need for a political solution that addresses the aspirations of the Tamil community for equality, dignity, justice and self respect within the framework of a united Sri Lanka,” an official statement said after the meeting.
Modi urged “all stakeholders in Sri Lanka to engage constructively, in a spirit of partnership and mutual accommodation, towards finding a political solution”.
This should be built “upon the 13th Amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution,” he said, referring the India-backed amendment of the 1980s which called for devolving autonomous powers to the Tamils.
Modi also assured the TNA delegation of India’s continuing support to provide relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction work in Sri Lanka’s northeast, the former war zone where thousands have been displaced.
He said New Delhi’s focus would be on projects relating to housing, livelihood generation, capacity building, education, hospitals and infrastructure.
(Colombo Gazette)
