Sri Lanka would show courage in meeting their legitimate concerns....!!!

Tamils problem larger than that of LTTE

Declaring the Tamil problem as "larger than that of the LTTE", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday expressed hope that Sri Lanka would show courage in meeting their legitimate concerns.

"The Tamil problem is larger than that of the LTTE. I sincerely hope that the Sri Lankan government will show imagination and courage in meeting the legitimate concerns and aspirations of Tamil people to live their lives as equal citizens and with dignity and self-respect," he said in the Lok Sabha.

Mr Singh was replying to the the debate on Motion of Thanks on the President's address to the joint sitting of Parliament.

The prime minister further said India had 'a deep and abiding interest in the well being of the Tamil people in that country' and has been taking an active part in the relief and rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka.

He said India had provided Rs.500 crore for this purpose and it would be ready to do more to restore normality and to return such people to their rightful homes and occupations.

Meanwhile several Indian MPs today expressed worries in the Rajya Sabha over the plight of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka and demanded an all-party meeting on the issue.

The Indian government assured that it would give an "appropriate response" to the concerns of the members.

"Government will respond appropriately once the feeling of the House is conveyed to the Prime Minister on the issue," Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan told the Upper House.

BJP's Venkaiah Naidu was the first to raise the issue. He said that reports emanating from Sri Lanka "are horrible, and there seems to be nothing less than a genocide" taking place there, the international community has not done much and he demanded that the Prime Minister should call an all-party meeting to discuss the issue at length.

AIADMK's V Maitreyan, CPI's D Raja, CPI(M)'s Brinda Karat and Left MPs also joined the chorus demanding an all-party meeting, terming it the government's "moral responsibility" to look into the interests of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka. P J Kurien and Santosh Bagrodia of Congress also associated themselves with the issue and urged the government to take up the matter with the Sri Lankan government.

http://tamilnational.com/indian-news/others/1291-tamils-problem-larger-than-that-of-ltte.html

Muthamizh

Chennai