By Indo Asian News
Service | IANS – Fri, Nov 2, 2012
Gurgaon, Nov 2 (IANS) Sri Lanka Friday told
India it has completed the process of rehabilitating 296,000 Tamils displaced
by the civil war and said it was fast-tracking political reconciliation in the
island nation.
Foreign
Minister G.L. Peiris also told his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid that
de-mining process had been largely completed in the north, the former war
theatre.
The
foreign ministers held wide-ranging talks on the sidelines of the ministerial
meeting of the 19-member Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation
here.
During
the talks, Peiris stressed that Sri Lanka saw India as an indispensable
partner.
Assuring
India of Colombo's commitment to find an enduring political solution to the
ethnic issue, Peiris pointed out that the economic growth in Tamil-dominated
Jaffna had soared around 22 percent last year.
But
he also admitted that the Sri Lankan government was having "some
difficulties" in implementing some of the recommendations of the Lessons
Learnt and Reconciliation Commission like those relatf to land.
Khurshid
urged his Sri Lankan counterpart to fast-track the release of five Indian
fishermen in Sri Lankan custody so that it does not remain an irritant in
bilateral ties.
