Rehabilitation and resettlement of Tamil civilians displaced by the civil war came up for discussions when external affairs minister S.M. Krishna met his Sri Lankan counterpart G.L. Peiris here on Sunday.
After the meeting, it was announced that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse would visit India on June 8, his first after his re-election in January this year. “The visit is planned for June 8,” Mr Krishna said after the meeting. Mr Rajapakse and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had last met in Thimphu on the sidelines of the Saarc Summit. The two Ministers also discussed about Mr Rajapakse’s visit.
Mr Krishna and Mr Peiris, who are here for the G15 Summit, met for over 30 minutes and discussed the progress in reconstruction of war-torn areas in the island’s north as well as the resettlement of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
India is assisting Sri Lanka in the reconstruction of the war-ravaged northern areas and has already provided Rs 500 crore to Colombo for this purpose.
Over 2 lakh of the total 2.9 lakh displaced civilians have returned home from camps, where they were lodged after the war. Sri Lanka is taking steps to resettle the remaining 60,000 in their towns and villages. The two sides agreed that the displaced should be expeditiously rehabilitated with dignity and some source of livelihood, an Indian official said after the meeting. They also spoke of “productive and constructive phase” with the return of peace in Sri Lanka and launching process of consolidation and reconstruction. —PTI
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Maoists slay Orissa cop in market
Akshaya Kumar Sahoo
Bhubaneswar
Suspected Maoist rebels on Sunday shot down a police constable at a Padia weekly market in under Kalimela police limit in Malkangiri district.
The victim was identified as Ramachandra Rao. He was recently posted at Padia outpost.
According to the police, the incident occurred at about noon when Rao was on duty at the weekly tribal market. Two ultras came to the place in plain clothes and opened firing on the constable who died on the spot. The incident sparked off panic in the area and people ran leaving their belongings at the market.
Meanwhile, the police seized hand-written Maoist posters from Koraput district. Demanding immediate withdrawal of security personnel at Narayanpatna and other parts of the district, the ultras threatened that police action on local tribals would be retaliated.