Tamils in Sri Lanka are going to write a new history by ruling two provinces in the island nation in the next two years, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said.
Addressing a meeting organised by the Congress here on Saturday, he said the process of peace returning to the war-torn nation has begun.
Rs. 3,200-crore loan to Sri Lanka
“The Government of India will give Rs. 3,200-crore loan to Sri Lanka,” he added. Besides, India will help Sri Lanka in re-building a port, an airport and two rail roads. India will soon open its consulate at Jaffna.
“Above all, India will construct 50,000 houses, each costing Rs. 2 lakh, for rehabilitating the 2.5 lakh Tamils displaced during the war,” he said. “The Government of India, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are ready to mitigate the sufferings of Tamils in any part of the world,” he said.
Mr. Chidambaram said that his party was not opposed to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader V. Prabhakaran, but only to the path he chose to lead.
“Had he accepted the Indo-Sri Lankan pact as suggested by (former Prime Minister) Rajiv Gandhi, today Prabhakaran could have headed the administration in the Tamil-dominated area,” the Union Minister said. But, he chose a wrong path, which led to loss of lot of lives.
Earlier addressing the meeting organised to mark the 107{+t}{+h} birth anniversary of former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj, Congress leader E. V. K. S. Elangovan urged the Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, to make efforts to release 91-year-old freedom fighter Sudalimuthu Nadar, who was lodged in prison in Chennai.
He demanded naming of the Radhapuram bus stand in Tirunelveli district after Kamaraj, he added.
