TNA’s promise to Swaraj

To work with government:

by Manjula Fernando

TNA leaders promised to work with the government to find a political solution acceptable to all communities in Sri Lanka, when they met the vising Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday.

The Indian High Commissioner Y.K.Sinha told the media at Hotel Taj Samudra, shortly before Swaraj wrapped up her meetings in Colombo that the TNA briefed the Indian Minister about the progress made by the government during the past one year, on the reconciliation front expressing its readiness to work with the government.

The TNA’s rigid stance had been one of the factors delaying a political solution to the minorities. Sampanthan told the media after meeting Swaraj “We have her assurance of the Indian government’s continued efforts for a peaceful and reasonable, political solution acceptable to all in Sri Lanka.”

The Minister was here to attend the India–Sri Lanka Joint Commission on Friday. The Commission covers the gamut of ties between the two countries, including, economic cooperation, trade, power and energy, technical and maritime cooperation, social, cultural and educational matters, science and technology, defence cooperation, health, civil aviation, tourism and people-to-people contact.

It was set up in 1992, as an effective mechanism to address matters pertaining to bilateral cooperation and had last met in 2013 in Delhi.

The Indian Minister called on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday and President Mathripala Sirisena yesterday followed by a meeting with former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

The visiting minister said there was a transformative change in the past one year in bi-lateral relations.

After the election, President Sirisena made his first state visit to India last February. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was welcomed in Delhi in September. Indian Premier Narendra Modi’s visit in March last year was the first bilateral stand alone visit by an Indian leader to the country since 1987.

She also met an SLMC delegation led by the Chief Minister of Eastern province Hafeez Muhammad. He said she acknowledged the political rights of the Muslims need to be accommodated in any future power-sharing deal.

Swaraj arrived in on Friday morning and left for India yesterday afternoon, after being hosted to lunch at India House by the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Y.K.Sinha. This was her second visit to Sri Lanka in a year.