{"id":70443,"date":"2020-09-27T01:11:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T06:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=70443"},"modified":"2020-09-27T01:51:26","modified_gmt":"2020-09-27T06:51:26","slug":"indian-prime-minister-modi-asks-govt-of-sri-lanka-to-address-the-aspirations-of-the-tamil-people-for-equality-justice-peace-and-respect-within-a-united-sri-lanka-by-carrying-forward-the-process-of-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=70443","title":{"rendered":"Indian Prime Minister Modi Asks Govt of Sri Lanka to address the aspirations of the Tamil people for equality, justice, peace and respect within a united Sri Lanka by carrying forward the process of reconciliation with the implementation of the 13 Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Suhasini Haidar & Meera Srinivasan <\/strong><\/p>\n

Calling on the newly elected Sri Lankan government to fully implement the 13th Constitutional amendment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi \u201chighlighted\u201d India\u2019s concerns about the rights of the Tamil minorities, during talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa. <\/p>\n

During the bilateral talks held on Saturday, New Delhi promised a $15-million grant for the promotion of Buddhist cultural exchanges, but demurred from a decision on Colombo\u2019s twin requests of a deferment of its debt repayment and a currency swap.<\/p>\n

“Prime Minister Modi called on the Government of Sri Lanka to address the aspirations of the Tamil people for equality, justice, peace and respect within a united Sri Lanka, including by carrying forward the process of reconciliation with the implementation of the 13Amendment to the Constitution,” said a joint statement released after the meeting, in a clear indication that both sides agreed to the reference. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa expressed the confidence that Sri Lanka will work towards realizing the expectations of all ethnic groups, including Tamils, by achieving reconciliation nurtured as per the mandate of the people of Sri Lanka and implementation of the Constitutional provision,” the joint statement added, also indicating the difference in their stands.<\/p>\n

The two leaders spoke via a videoconference, marking the first virtual summit held by PM Mahinda since he won the general elections in August, and the first such bilateral summit PM Modi has held with a neighbouring country, apart from the SAARC summit on COVID-19 that he convened in March.<\/p>\n

A joint statement issued after the meeting also made a reference to 13A as the amendment is known. Sri Lanka\u2019s Tamil leadership has raised concern that the existing 13th Amendment \u2014 the only legislative assurance of power devolution so far \u2014 might be under threat as the Rajapaksa government plans to embark on a new Constitution. Some within the government have called for repealing 13A.<\/p>\n

While Mr. Rajapaksa has consistently promised India and the island\u2019s Tamil community his commitment to 13A, as it is known, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who will likely enjoy greater powers according to the recently tabled 20th Amendment Bill, has emphatically said he would focus on \u201cdevelopment rather than devolution\u201d, and told The Hindu in an interview last year that he would not proceed on devolution \u201cagainst the wishes and feeling of the majority [Sinhala] community\u201d.<\/p>\n

Both sides discussed cooperation on a number of infrastructure and energy projects India is keen to pursue in Trincomalee, and the Colombo East Container Terminal project, which it has bid for jointly with Japan. Officials said PM Modi hoped for \u201cearly and decisive action\u201d on these projects that have been pending for more than three years.<\/p>\n

India has not yet responded with a decision on the requests made personally by PM Mahinda during his visit to Delhi in February this year, for a three-year moratorium on Sri Lanka\u2019s $960-million debt owed to India, and for a $1.1-billion currency swap arrangement, in addition to the $400-million currency swap that the RBI has already sanctioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cExtending financial support to Sri Lanka is one of our priorities. Both these requests are being discussed at the official level and we hope for an agreement at the technical level shortly,\u201d Mr. Narang said, asked about the reason for the delay in the decisions.<\/p>\n

PM Modi was accompanied by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval, while PM Mahinda was flanked by his Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda. The presence of Mr. Devananda indicated the importance given to the issues of Sri Lankan fishermen who have accused Indian fishermen of trespassing into their waters and the use of trawlers which deplete the fish populations, and the MEA said the two leaders directed officials to discuss these issues further with a \u201cconstructive and humanitarian approach\u201d and a view to UN Sustainable Development Goals, a joint statement issued after the meeting said.<\/p>\n

The two sides resolved to work on a proposal from New Delhi for an \u201cair travel bubble\u201d to restart trade and tourism ties that have been hit by the pandemic. During the summit, India also announced a grant of $15 million for the \u201cpromotion of Buddhist ties\u201d including the restoration of monasteries and facilitation of pilgrims to India\u2019s newest international airport at the Buddhist site of Kushinagar, as well as expedite the construction of 10,000 housing units in the plantation areas, as promised in 2017.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Suhasini Haidar & Meera Srinivasan Calling on the newly elected Sri Lankan government to fully implement the 13th Constitutional amendment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi \u201chighlighted\u201d India\u2019s concerns about the rights of the Tamil minorities, during talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa. During the bilateral talks held on Saturday, New Delhi promised a …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Indian Prime Minister Modi Asks Govt of Sri Lanka to address the aspirations of the Tamil people for equality, justice, peace and respect within a united Sri Lanka by carrying forward the process of reconciliation with the implementation of the 13 Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70443"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70449,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70443\/revisions\/70449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}