Government ensures progress

17 May 2011 12:04 pm Views - 3627

External Affairs Minister Professor G. L. Peiris had affirmed Government’s commitment to ensuring expeditious and concrete progress in the ongoing dialogue between the Government of Sri Lanka and representatives of Tamil parties. “A devolution package, building upon the 13th Amendment, would contribute towards creating the necessary conditions for such reconciliation, a joint statement by Sri Lankan and the Indian government said.

Both countries had agreed that an end of armed conflict in Sri Lanka created a historic opportunity to address all outstanding issues in a spirit of understanding and mutual accommodation imbued with political vision to work towards genuine national reconciliation, the statement further said.

Joint statement comes as a result of Professor Peiris’s visit to India where he called on Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and met with Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister, Shri S M Krishna, External Affairs Minister and Shri Shivshankar Menon, National Security Advisor. Smt Nirupama Rao, Foreign Secretary. .

The Minister of External Affairs of Sri Lanka reiterated the commitment of his Government to continue to address issues related to resettlement and reconciliation in a focused and progressive manner. In this regard the Minister Peiris referred to the work of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and set out the steps taken by the Inter-Agency Advisory Committee (IAAC) chaired by the Attorney General in implementing the Interim Recommendations of the LLRC in relation to detention, law and order, administration and language issues and socio-economic and livelihood issues.

In response, The External Affairs Minister of India urged the expeditious implementation of measures by the Government of Sri Lanka, to ensure resettlement and genuine reconciliation, including early return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their respective homes, early withdrawal of emergency regulations, investigations into allegations of human rights violations, restoration of normalcy in affected areas and redress of humanitarian concerns of affected families. (Daily Mirror online)