Parliamentary team from India may visit Lanka | India Gazette

Parliamentary team from India may visit Lanka

India Gazette (IANS) Thursday 25th August, 2011

A team of parliament members from India may soon visit Sri Lanka to see the condition of Tamil-speaking people there, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna informed the Rajya Sabha Thursday.

'During a recent meeting with Tamil Nadu chief minister in Chennai, the Sri Lankan high commissioner to New Delhi has conveyed the Sri Lankan president's invitation,' Krishna informed the house of elders. 'He has also invited a parliamentary team.'

The minister was responding to a suggestion by Bharatiya Janata Party leader S.S. Ahluwalia that a parliamentary delegation be sent to Sri Lanka. The three-hour-long discussion on the issue saw members expressing concern over the situation of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Communist Party of India member D. Raja, who initiated the discussion, alleged that the government had betrayed the Sri Lankan Tamils in their time of need. 'The Government of India betrayed Sri Lankan Tamils at a crucial moment,' he said.

'There is a demand for international impartial investigation,' he added. 'So far India has not raised this demand. The European Union has come out with a strong statement.' Raja also said that the May 2009 offensive led to a genocide unparalleled in contemporary history.

Page 1 of 4 | Next