(PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said Sinhala and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka should strengthen unity and harmony as he assured India’s full support to the steps taken by Colombo to improve the living conditions of minority Tamils in the country. “Diversity calls for celebration and not confrontation.Sinhala and Tamil people and languages existed harmoniously,” Modi told the Tamils of Indian origin in Dickoya town in the tea growing Central Province of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is still recovering from the wounds of a nearly three-decade long bloody civil war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which fought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and the east of the island.
The war caused significant hardships for the Tamils and resulted in deaths of an estimated 80,000 100,000 people.”We need to strengthen, not separate, (these) threads of unity and harmony,” Modi told thousands of Tamils during a public rally in the presence of Lankan President Maithripala Srisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Modi, who made a helicopter journey to Dickoya, said he was aware that the Sri Lankan government is taking active steps to improve living conditions of Tamils including a 5- year National Plan of Action.
“The Government and people of India are with you in your journey towards peace and greater prosperity,” Modi said.He announced that India would provide 10,000 additional houses in the region. India has already provided 4,000 homes.
