SELF-ESTEEM OF TAMILS STILL NOT ERODED - RAO

December 15, 2013 

India’s former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao says that the end of civil war in Sri Lanka had provided a historic opportunity for reconciliation and that India should ensure that the self-respect of Tamil minority should not be eroded. 

“The Indian concerns based on Indian Ocean is not given sufficient importance in the Sri Lankan policy calculus. The pride and self-esteem of Tamil minorities have still not eroded, while the nation comprises the first wave diaspora of Sinhalese from India also,” she said.

Delivering the 22nd Sree Chithira Tirunal Memorial Lecture-2013 on ‘India in a Tough Neighbourhood’, Nirupama Rao, who was also the High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Ambassador to China and United States, stated that it is very important for India to keep China’s military capability in mind.

“While addressing bilateral issues, it is also very important to keep China’s military capability in mind. India has to be more generous to Nepal and Bangladesh, apart from developing joint maritime initiatives with Sri Lanka. Nepal has abundant water resources enough to tap 1 lakh megawatts of electricity, which is capable to make that country to have the highest per capita income in the region. But for the prevailing mistrust Nepal has for India, we were not able to take up initiatives,’’ she pointed out.

Government appoints Northern DIG without CM’s knowledge

Saturday, 14 December 2013 

 

The government has appointed a deputy inspector general (DIG) of police to the Northern Province without the knowledge of the Northern Province Chief Minister.

The TNA has raised objections to the appointment of DIG Pujitha Jayasundera to the North.

TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran has told parliament that the Constitution notes that a DIG had to be appointed only in consultation with the Chief Minister and that it had not happened in the appointment of the new northern DIG.

“I have nothing against the gentleman appointed to the North. Yet, it is a devolved subject. A DIG has to be appointed with the concurrence of the Chief Minister. Similarly even the provincial chief secretary has to be appointed with the same concurrence. The NPC Chief Minister has asked for the removal of the chief secretary. The letter addressed to the executive has remained unanswered for the past two months,” Sumanthiran has said.

He has also observed that the party would bring a motion calling for the removal of the Governor as well.