NEW DELHI, April 6: A six-member delegation of Indian
parliamentarians will visit Sri Lanka during April 8-12. The
multi-party team will visit Colombo and Jaffna. It has no member from
Tamil Nadu.
The trip is being organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The Indian parliamentarians will meet Sri Lankan MPs, senior Ministers and other political leaders.
The MPs will also visit Jaffna to look at work on projects supported by the Indian government, particularly the owner-driven housing initiative, according to the High Commission on Friday. India is funding the construction of 50,000 dwellling units to help rehabilitate the internally displaced Tamils during the ethnic strife in the island’s NorthEast.
The delegation includes Saugata Roy (Trinamool Congress), Sandeep Dikshit (Congress), Anurag Thakur (BJP), Dhananjay Singh (BSP), Goud Yaskhi (Congress) from the Lok Sabha, and Prakash Javadekar (BJP) from the Rajya Sabha.
They will be accompanied by two FICCI representatives.
Convener of the FICCI’s Forum of Parliamentarians Jyoti Malhotra will accompany the delegation. She said FICCI has been working to constitute a ‘Track Two political dialogue’ between Indian parliamentarians and their Sri Lankan counterparts for many months now, for greater political interaction and understanding.
The visit beginning on Monday is part of a larger programme that seeks to institutionalise political partnerships. Similar interactions have earlier been held between Indian MPs and their counterparts from Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.Ms Malhotra in a statement: "We intend to pursue these political tracks within South Asia because we believe that talking to each other can be the only way forward out of any crisis, whether political or economic. We greatly look forward to our visit to Sri Lanka to take forward our very dynamic relationship."
In April 2012, a parliamentary delegation led by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj visited Sri Lanka. Ms Swaraj met President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and underscored commitment to being closely engaged with Colombo to further rehabilitation processes, reconstruction and national development. She also emphasised the need for a "genuine political solution."
This year’s delegation comes at a time when political parties, students and social activists in Tamil Nadu have been protesting against the Sri Lankan government for the atrocities committed by its security forces in the NorthEast during the last phase of Eelam War IV and the continuing harassment of minority Tamils even four years after the civil war ended.
4/07/2013
The trip is being organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The Indian parliamentarians will meet Sri Lankan MPs, senior Ministers and other political leaders.
The MPs will also visit Jaffna to look at work on projects supported by the Indian government, particularly the owner-driven housing initiative, according to the High Commission on Friday. India is funding the construction of 50,000 dwellling units to help rehabilitate the internally displaced Tamils during the ethnic strife in the island’s NorthEast.
The delegation includes Saugata Roy (Trinamool Congress), Sandeep Dikshit (Congress), Anurag Thakur (BJP), Dhananjay Singh (BSP), Goud Yaskhi (Congress) from the Lok Sabha, and Prakash Javadekar (BJP) from the Rajya Sabha.
They will be accompanied by two FICCI representatives.
Convener of the FICCI’s Forum of Parliamentarians Jyoti Malhotra will accompany the delegation. She said FICCI has been working to constitute a ‘Track Two political dialogue’ between Indian parliamentarians and their Sri Lankan counterparts for many months now, for greater political interaction and understanding.
The visit beginning on Monday is part of a larger programme that seeks to institutionalise political partnerships. Similar interactions have earlier been held between Indian MPs and their counterparts from Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.Ms Malhotra in a statement: "We intend to pursue these political tracks within South Asia because we believe that talking to each other can be the only way forward out of any crisis, whether political or economic. We greatly look forward to our visit to Sri Lanka to take forward our very dynamic relationship."
In April 2012, a parliamentary delegation led by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj visited Sri Lanka. Ms Swaraj met President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and underscored commitment to being closely engaged with Colombo to further rehabilitation processes, reconstruction and national development. She also emphasised the need for a "genuine political solution."
This year’s delegation comes at a time when political parties, students and social activists in Tamil Nadu have been protesting against the Sri Lankan government for the atrocities committed by its security forces in the NorthEast during the last phase of Eelam War IV and the continuing harassment of minority Tamils even four years after the civil war ended.
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