Meeting Sri Lanka's president at Temple Trees on Tuesday, India's visiting foreign affairs minister, SM Krishna, felt assured by the president's commitment on finding a political solution based on the implementation of the 13th Amendment and the "meaningful devolution of powers".
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Krishna said,
“I discussed this matter [political solution for Tamils] with His Excellency the President this morning. The President assured me that he stands by his commitment to pursuing the 13th Amendment [to the Sri Lankan Constitution] plus approach,”
“The Government of Sri Lanka has on many occasions conveyed to us its commitment to move towards a political settlement based on the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, and building on it, so as to achieve meaningful devolution of powers.
We look forward to an expeditious and constructive approach to the dialogue process. We believe that continuation of the dialogue between the Government and the TNA would pave the way for political settlement, including under the rubric of the Parliamentary Select Committee,”
Krishna's counterpart, GL Peiris, denied allegations that the Sri Lankan government was to call off the next set of talks, following the TNA's published response to the LLRC Report.
Speaking at a press conference along side Krishna, Peiris said,
"It would not be correct to say that the Government has called off the talks. Not at all. On the contrary, we want to make it a success. The process has to be inclusive. We cannot achieve success if we exclude the vast majority of political opinion,"
Krishna added,
"It's our hope that the vision and leadership that resulted in an end to the armed conflict will now be employed in the quest for a genuine political reconciliation."
"These recommendations, when implemented, would mark a major step forward in the process of genuine national reconciliation, to which the Sri Lankan government is committed. Sri Lanka must seize this opportunity,"
A regime that has the 'vision' of an ethinically pure Sinhala-Buddhist state and the 'leadership' to orchestrate the deaths of over 40,000 civilians, will no doubt seize the opportunity - the opportunity to continue its structural genocide with impunity.
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