Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) India Friday said the rehabilitation of Tamils should be of the “highest and most immediate priority” for Sri Lanka and conveyed to Colombo that it needs to examine “concerns” raised by the UN report alleging “war crimes” against the island nation’s government.

“Our focus is on the welfare and the well being of the Tamil speaking minorities of northern and eastern Sri Lanka. We have consistently emphasized to the Sri Lankan government that their rehabilitation should be of the highest and most immediate priority,” Vishnu Prakash, the external affairs ministry spokesman, told reporters here.

India underlined that “a fair and reasonable settlement of the political issues concerning the minorities in Sri Lanka is of utmost importance” and said “the historic opportunity offered by the end of the conflict should be availed of at the earliest”.

It also urged Sri Lanka to clarify the sequence of events during the last days of the conflict.

“The government of Sri Lanka would need to go into the matter in greater detail. The concerns that are being expressed in this regard need to be examined,” the spokesperson said when asked about a documentary by Channel 4 called “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” that shows war crimes allegedly committed by the Sri Lankan troops in the last days of the conflict.

Referring to the report by a panel appointed by the UN Secretary Council, Vishnu Prakash said: “In general, there are still questions on the report. Some countries have raised this in the UN Human Rights Council.”

“Sri Lanka is home to a number of ethnic groups, of which about 20 per cent are Tamil-speaking. They have friends and relatives in Tamil Nadu and other parts of India. It is but natural that we are concerned for their well-being,” he said amid continuing concerns in India about the plight of Tamils following the end of the war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government in May 2009.

The UN panel was set up to study the conduct of operations during the last phase of the war against the LTTE and advise the UN chief on the issue.

The spokesperson quoted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent remarks, saying India feels the Tamil population in Sri Lanka has “legitimate grievances” and stressed that Colombo must move towards “a new system of institutional reforms, where the Tamil people will have a feeling that they are equal citizens of Sri Lanka”.”