14 June 2010 11:39 am
Bollywood star Vivek Oberoi, speaking to Daily Mirror online, praised the IDP resettlement process undertaken by the government and said that the doubts and concerns he had were cleared following his visit to the North.
The actor, who visited Vavuniya yesterday to witness the mass wedding of 53 former LTTE couples, said both the Tamil community and the Sri Lankan government needs to slowly build trust and faith with each other and noted that both sides are working towards that in order to achieve permanent peace.
“When I came for the IIFA awards I had my own doubts. I had concerns because there were so many IDPs. You hear about their conditions in the camps. But I was glad to see that just a fifth of them remain to be rehabilitated. Out of some 280 thousand just about 50,000 remain,” he told Daily Mirror online on the sidelines of the mass wedding.
The only way the Sri Lankan government can win the favor of the Tamil people is by conducting programs like the mass wedding, Oberoi further added.
“It is going to be difficult. It’s not going to be easy. Thirty years of war, 30 years of scars, conflicts. These wounds will take time to heal. There is a lot of things people back home view with suspicion and I completely understand the suspicion of the people because they are not sure,” the Indian actor said.
“When I personally came and saw the massive reconstruction work, the rehabilitation programs to see the amount of undertaking the people are doing, by the time the people start experiencing it and settling in there will be a goodwill that will start developing and I think this beautiful country will finally get a much deserves peace,” he said. (Daily Mirror online)
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