TNCC president B.S. Gnanadesikan on Friday asserted that a solution to the Sri Lankan Tamils’ problem could be found only through talks.
He told reporters here that the stand of the Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu was that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should not attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and they were not against India participating in the meeting.
“Even UK Prime Minister David Cameron had said he had respected Dr. Manmohan Singh’s decision to avoid the meeting. Here the word avoid is very important. The world and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa know why Dr. Manmohan Singh has avoided CHOGM,” he said.
Mr. Gnanadesikan expressed the hope that the problem of Tamil fishermen could be resolved only if fishermen from both the countries were allowed to discuss the issue in the presence of government representatives.
“We have suggested the idea of trudging to facilitate fishing by Indian fishermen in Indian Ocean,” he said.
Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan expressed the hope that Indian representatives would present the case of Sri Lankan Tamils. “They will demand rights for Sri Lankan Tamils on a par with Sinhalese and rehabilitation measures,” said Mr. Vasan, who is one of the Union Ministers argued against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s participation in the CHOGM. He said the UPA government had fully understood the feeling and aspirations of Tamils and was acting accordingly.
