COLOMBO: India and Sri Lanka discussed the ongoing Tamil conflict in the island nation and refugee problem during external affairs minister V C Shukla’s visit to Colombo.
The two sides also discussed bilateral relations and a host of regional and international issues.
Describing the discussions as “extremely frank and friendly” Indian foreign secretary Muchukund Dubey told reporters that the outcome of the visit would be announced Wednesday after Shukla’s talks with Sri Lanka president Ranasinghe Premadasa.
Dubey said the talks were “really optimal from our point of view”.
A meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries was followed by two and a half hour long delegation-level talks.
Meanwhile leaders of six prominent Tamil groups and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress held discussions with the Indian leader on their proposal to find an acceptable solution to the Ethnic problem.
The leaders of these parties later submitted a draft enunciating their proposals involving setting up of a single provincial council in the permanently merged north and east provinces with two separate chambers for the two major ethnic communities of Tamils and Muslims in the area.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 8, 1991
