“Do not politicise Rajapaksa visit”

Updated - June 28, 2016 11:17 pm IST - Chennai:

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president B.S. Gnanadesikan has appealed to the parties not to politicise the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the interests of Sri Lankan Tamils and Tamil fishermen.

In a statement here, he said the parties were raising voices that Mr. Rajapaksa should not visit India and that the Centre should not hold talks with him. “If we have to safeguard the rights of Sri Lankan Tamils and to solve the issue of attack on Tamil fishermen, who else should we talk to,” he asked.

It would be better if the protesting parties could point out with whom the Centre should hold talks other than the Sri Lankan government or its President, he said. If Mr. Rajapaksa could be stopped from entering the country, how could Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna visit Sri Lanka, he asked.

If the ties between the two countries remained tense, how could the Union government carry out development work worth Rs.1000 crore in the northern parts of Sri Lanka where Tamils were a majority, he wondered.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.