Sri Lanka is not an enemy-India

27 February 2013 10:00 am

Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told Rajya Sabha today that Sri Lanka is not an enemy of India.

During the debate on Sri Lanka the minister also said, “We may have anguish, we may have anger but we should not be saying Sri Lanka is an enemy country.”


He also said, “respect the concern that is being expressed by my friends in Tamil Nadu and I want to say this is not your concern alone.In all our official interaction with dignitaries from Sri Lanka, we are insisting that the 13th Amendment be implemented.

However, he said that accountability must come from within Sri Lanka; otherwise there can be no future for it.

“The points we will make at the United Nations we can't foreclose today - we will come back to you when we take a final position.We want a sustainable settlement to the issues in Sri Lanka. All of us have suffered because of the strife that took place in Sri Lanka,” he said.

“I disagree with comments that were made which suggested we are losing respect in United Nations.

Largest number of countries want India as permanent member of Security Council.There cannot be, and must not be, a division in this House because if that happens there cannot be a message outside,” he told the Rajya Sabha.