Foreign minister S M Krishna on Thursday assured chief minister Ms Jayalalithaa that her views would be taken into account on the unannounced trips by Sri Lankan VIPs to the state. “We are a federal state, we have the greatest respect for states. Whatever is the assessment of the state governments, we will take it seriously but we will see how we can reconcile the issue,” he told reporters at the airport here, on a brief stopover on way to Singapore.
“I would like to assure the chief minister that her opinion will certainly be factored in the decision we are going to take”, Mr Krishna said.
Ms Jayalalithaa had written to the Prime Minister on Wednesday urging that the Centre discourage visits of Sri Lankan dignitaries to Tamil Nadu because people were 'greatly exercised' over Colombo’s conduct on the Tamils issue. She wanted the Centre to allow such Lankan VIPs to visit the state only after consulting the state government.
Mr Krishna said during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, he had seen the relief and rehabilitation work, sponsored by India, going on full steam in the north. We are providing a number of facilities in Sri Lanka. “We have basically a good relationship and after all it’s our brothers and sisters who speak the same language, Tamil, who generations back have settled there. And so taking this into account we are helping the Tamil speaking people who were displaced from their homes in the recent upheavals that took place in Sri Lanka.”
On India rejecting the visa application of a Japanese national who was to share her experience about the Fukushima nuclear disaster, he said it was the prerogative of the government to decide on such matters. Maya Kobayashi, a survivor of Fukushima nuclear tragedy, was due to visit India on the invitation of Greenpeace Foundation to share her experience with communities living close to the proposed nuclear power plants, but was denied visa after a 'mismatch' was detected in her travel document and the purpose of visit