Basil Rajapaksa, brother and advisor to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, will be arriving in Delhi on Saturday.
Basil Rajapaksa will arrive in India on Saturday to show support to Tamil civilians
NEW DELHI: Basil Rajapaksa, brother and advisor to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, will be arriving in Delhi on Saturday with a high-level delegation to reassure India that president Rajapaksa is concerned about the plight of Tamil civilians caught in the war zone. The high-level delegation from Colombo, led by the president’s brother Basil Rajapaksa will arrive in Delhi on Saturday and brief the government and answer queries at a meeting on Sunday.
The delegation, comprising MPs from different political parties including Tamil members, will try to placate India’s fears on the humanitarian crisis in the northern peninsular and point measures taken by Colombo to ensure supplies of food and medicine to the area.
With domestic political pressure on the UPA government, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee made another statement in parliament on the situation in Sri Lanka to soothe its coalition partner - DMK. The government is concerned about the situation in Sri Lanka, particularly the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the north of the island, he said. “We are concerned about the plight of civilians caught in the hostilities and the growing number of internally displaced persons,” Mukherjee told MP’s in the Lok Sabha.
“The rights and the welfare of the Tamil community should not be enmeshed in the on-going hostilities against the LTTE,” the foreign minister said adding that the solution to the ethnic problem was not military but a political package which will allow some amount of autonomy to the Tamil minorities in the island.
Wednesday’s statement on India’s growing concern for Tamil civilians caught in the cross fire between the Sinhala army and the LTTE, is the second in a week.
Earlier, foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon summoned Romesh Jayasinghe the Sri Lankan envoy in Delhi to register India’s concern on the plight of ethnic Tamils in the northern province. Before this, MK Narayanan, the national security advisor had summoned the deputy high commissioner to deliver the same message.
g_seema@dnaindia.net
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