BJP leaders meet Mahinda Rajapaksa; discuss issues of Tamils in Sri Lanka

Two senior BJP leaders today met President Mahinda Rajapaksa here and stressed that the pending issues relating to Tamils in Sri Lanka need to be resolved within the framework of the country's Constitution.

BJP national secretary P Muralidhar Rao and the party's global convenor of overseas affairs Vijay Jolly held a 45- minute meeting with Rajapaksa at the Presidential Palace here. During the meeting, Rao underlined that the settlement of the pending Tamil issues needs to be resolved within the framework of Sri Lanka's Constitution, a BJP statement said.

The two leaders also stressed that the Sri Lankan government's dialogue with the country's main Tamil party -- Tamil National Alliance should restart immediately.

Appreciating the recent moves of the Sri Lankan government to release the arrested Indian fishermen, the BJP leaders sought the release of trawlers of the fishermen, seized in the operations.

The need for a new Maritime Indo-Lankan policy to solve this recurrent problem of Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen to the satisfaction of all was also emphasised at this meeting.

Rao, who is also the in-charge of party affairs of Tamil Nadu BJP, said that the issue related to the fishermen should be seen as an issue of livelihood and the Sri Lankan government, while dealing with this problem, must be sensitive and show more flexibility.

Promoting religious and cultural tourism between India and Sri Lanka evoked consensus on both sides, the statement said.

Buddhist Circuit trail in India and Hindu circuit trail in Sri Lanka shall promote rich cultural-heritage of both the nations, it said. 

The two BJP leaders are in Colombo to participate in the Asian Political Parties conference attended by 41 Nations and 360 Political Parties of Asia.