Committed to settling the Tamils issue, says Mahinda Rajapaksa

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday reiterated his commitment to follow the "13th Amendment plus approach" to achieve a political solution to the Tamils issue even as External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna urged Sri Lanka to move towards an expeditious political settlement.

"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," Mr. Krishna told journalists here.

"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 Tamil National Alliance would pave the way for political settlement, under the rubric of the Parliamentary Select Committee," he added.

There has been little progress in the talks on this issue between the Sri Lankan government and the TNA, which represented the Tamil people of the north. Talks have been going on for more than a year. Now, the government has indicated that it wants to shift the discussion to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), a move that has been opposed by the TNA.

Asked if the government had called off talks with the TNA, Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris said: "It is not correct to say that the government of Sri Lanka has called off talks…[The] government far from calling off talks has said that it would like to make the talks constructive and purposeful by requesting the TNA to send their names [of representatives to the PSC] without delay… so that the talks can move forward towards a practical solution."

Fishermen issue

Mr. Krishna described the issue of fishermen being shot in the Palk Straits as "an emotive" one that needed to be handled with care on both sides. "As we explore possible solutions, we must ensure that there is no use of force against the fishermen and that they are treated in a humane manner. We were happy to note that the Joint Working Group on Fisheries which met a couple of days ago, was able to look at various options to address this issue."