Congress, DMK ‘on same page’ on Lankan Tamils

NEW DELHI: With emotions running high in Tamil Nadu over the fate of thousands of displaced Tamils by the civil war in Sri Lanka, the Congress on Wednesday said that proper political autonomy should be granted to the aggrieved displaced population.

“Our Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) has already raised the issue with the visiting Sri Lankan President. We hope the rehabilitation process as well as granting of political autonomy to the Lankan Tamils will not be delayed further,” Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said.

The Congress, she said, was not only fully supportive of the ally DMK’s view on this issue, “it is our view as well. The internally displaced population should be resettled, allowed to return to their homes, villages and towns.”

In a recent letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi also noted “those families who have been rehabilitated and settled elsewhere need to be provided with economic development and justice-based reconciliation to work towards a permanent political solution.”

Nearly, 80,000 Lankan Tamils were still languishing in camps waiting for the resettlement process to reach them some day. The Indian government, which provided an aid package for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the IDPs, was in a position to exert some pressure on its Lankan counterpart to complete the process.