This Article is From Apr 22, 2012

Congress leaders to submit a report to PM about Sri Lanka visit

Chennai: Members of Parliament belonging to the Congress party who were part of the parliamentary delegation to Sri Lanka said on Saturday that a report about the visit would be submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

An Indian parliamentary delegation led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj had visited Sri Lanka on April 16-21 to see first-hand the rehabilitation programme for the internally displaced people (IDP), mainly Tamils.

Speaking to reporters on their return, the four Members of Parliament (MPs) -- NSVChithan, M Krishnasamy, EM Sudarsana Natchiappan and Manik Tagore -- termed the visit as fruitful.

They said that there is a sense of fear amongst the Tamils in some areas in Sri Lanka. The community is under constant watch by the Sri Lankan army and they had asked the island nations' government there to call back the army, they said.

According to Mr Natchiappan, the MPs delegation visited various places in Sri Lanka including the Menik farm where the Tamil are lodged.

He said that the number of people lodged in the Menik camp is around 6000 down from 250000 during the last visit by Indian MPs in 2010.

They said the Sri Lankan government has assured them that the remaining inmates would be resettled soon.

According to the MPs, the Indian delegation has pressed upon the Sri Lankan government to devolve powers to the Tamils in the country.

The Indian parliamentary delegation met the Tamil representatives and the affected Tamils and heard their problems.

"We met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and told him what needs to be done and he in turn assured us that whatever he could do would be done," said Mr Natchiappan.
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