An Indian parliamentary delegation on Saturday asked Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to speed up reconciliation with the Tamil minority in the island “with a sense of urgency” and take steps to demilitarise the former war zones in the north.
The 12-member team called on the President on the last day of its six-day visit to the island and presented their perceptions of what they saw in the north and east scarred by three decades of Eelam war. The MPs urged him to deliver on his commitment to devolve powers to the Tamils. The government should break the deadlock in talks with the main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance and he should deliver on his promise of “13-plus” (full powers to the provincial councils) in terms of the 13th amendment proposed in the Rajiv-Jayewardene accord (1987), Ms Sushma Swaraj, leader of the delegation told Mr Rajapakse.
She later told reporters that Sri Lanka should soon implement the recommendations of the “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)”. “We have brought out clearly the need for expeditious implementations of the measures proposed by the LLRC with regard to information on missing persons and detainees, investigation of cases of disappearances and abductions. It is important that these are pursued with a sense of urgency. This is the message we have conveyed to our Sri Lankan friends”, Ms Swaraj said.
On the issue of demilitarising the former battle zones in the north and the east, she said President Rajapakse promised to ensure that the military would not interfere with the civilian life.