India and Sri Lanka Tuesday discussed the issue of Tamils displaced during the military action against the LTTE and highlighted the need for their
expeditious resettlement with dignity.
India's External Affairs Minister S M Krishna held a detailed exchange of views with his Sri Lankan counterpart G L Peiries on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Council of Ministers meeting here.
The two leaders resolved to increase the content and depth of bilateral ties and noted that there should be a sense of participation and equality among all ethnic groups, official sources said.
Out of three lakh internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka, 2.40 lakh have moved out of the rehabilitation camps and the remaining need to be resettled.
Sri Lankan security forces had defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May last year, when they had killed its supremo V Prabhakaran.
Krishna and Peiries noted the need for expeditious resettlement with dignity for the IDPs while ensuring that they have some means of livelihood.
Krishna congratulated Peiries on his appointment as the new Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka and also for the peaceful conduct of the April 8 Parliamentary elections in which the ruling UPFA of President Mahinda Rajapaksa registered an
impressive win.
This is Peiries' first visit abroad after taking over as Foreign Minister.