Indian parliamentary delegation to visit Sri Lanka in mid-April

The Indian government plans to send an all-party delegation to Sri Lanka next month to observe the progress of the resettlement and rehabilitation of the Tamils in the Northern Province.

The delegation will be led by the leader of opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Lok Sabha of the Indian parliament, Sushma Swaraj.

The visit is tentatively scheduled to take place from 16 to 21 April, PTI reported.

The BJP has chosen Prahlad Joshi from Lok Sabha and M Venkaiah Naidu from Rajya Sabha as its representatives in the delegation.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is reportedly finalising the details of the visit, including the list of MPs who will be part of the delegation.

Deputy Leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha S.S Ahluwalia had first suggested in December in Parliament to send an all-party delegation to Sri Lanka to learn about the condition of Tamils after the Sri Lankan government liberated the North from the Tamil Tiger terrorist control in May 2009.

India’s External Affairs Minister S.M Krishna had welcomed the suggestion in the Rajya Sabha and later endorsed the idea in the Lok Sabha.

The delegation was to leave on 11 February but due to Assembly elections in five states and other factors, the trip was postponed.

Swaraj has expressed hope the trip will take place this time.

India recently siding with the US voted against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to pass a resolution tabled by the United States calling for the speedy implementation of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and investigate the war crime allegations during the war.