India utilising Lankan labour in reconstruction work - Rao
September 1, 2010 09:01 pm
India on
Wednesday rejected reports that it was bringing its own nationals to Sri Lankato carry out reconstruction work in the war-ravaged northern districts.
Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, on a three-day visit to the Island nation, categorically denied that there was any
move to bring in Indian labour for reconstruction work here.
Construction of houses and other reconstruction work that India was helping Sri Lanka with was being done with
local help, Rao reiterated.
A report in a local newspaper had claimed that Indiawas transporting 20,000 workers to Sri Lanka to carry out
reconstruction activities.
On Wednesday, Rao visited the eastern coastal town of Trincomalee and Mullaitivu, the final theatre
of battle.
“We will not only build houses but also repair them. We want to participate
in their recovery and progress,” Rao said during her visit to the Mullaitivu
administrative district.
On Tuesday, Rao visited Jaffna,
the senior-most Indian bureaucrat to do so in decades, Kilinochchi and the
camps for the internally displaced in Vavuniya.
In Jaffna, Rao had an interactive meet with
members of the civil society where Tamil academics and intellectuals shared
their complaints, apprehensions and expectations about India’s role in Sri Lanka with her.
According to reports, Rao was told that the people of Jaffnaexpect India to play an
active role in extracting a political settlement on the ethnic issue from Colombo. But at the same
time, doubts were expressed whether India, which sided with the Mahinda
Rajapaksa regime in its fight against the Tamil Tigers, would indeed help the
Lankan Tamils to get that. Mere resettlement of war-displaced Tamils in small
pockets of the northern districts will not achieve anything, she was told,
Hindustan Times reports.
Disclaimer: All the comments will be moderated by the AD editorial. Abstain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or slanderous. Please avoid outside hyperlinks inside the comment and avoid typing all capitalized comments. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by flagging them(mouse over a comment and click the flag icon on the right side). Do use these forums to voice your opinions and create healthy discourse.