“Do not politicise MR visit”

22 September 2012 03:40 am

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. (The Hindu)