Indian FM coming

25 August 2010 03:17 pm

Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said he would visit Sri Lanka by the end of this month to study the situation facing the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and other issues. A senior ministry official would also go to Colombo before him.

According to a report on PTI the minister told the Lok Sabha today that a settlement acceptable under the ambit of 13th Amendment and beyond should be implemented in Sri Lanka so that peace and tranquility can prevail in the country.

He also rejected a demand by members of the AIADMK, CPI, CPI(M) and MDMK to send an all-party parliamentary delegation to Sri Lanka to study the problems being faced by the Sri Lankan Tamils.

SM Krishna was quoted by PTI as saying the time was not ripe for such a delegation to be sent.

"Doubts have been expressed whether the beneficiaries are receiving the aid sent by India. We are heavily dependent on the International Red Cross the UN Commission on refugees (to send assistance) ... We are continuously monitoring the situation on the basis of periodic assessments," Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna told the Lok Sabha today.

All participants in the discussion expressed serious concern over the plight of the IDPs and asked the government what it intended to do as the money and relief material sent by India was "not being spent properly" and "without any accountability".

Maintaining that prime minister Manmohan Singh had raised the issue during the recent visit of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse to India, Krishna said, "We will stay engaged with Sri Lanka" on issues relating to building further on the 13th Amendment adopted by Sri Lankan Parliament which gave effect to the devolution provisions of the Indo-Lanka Accord of July 1987.