* India should consider consequences before making decisions on Sri Lanka - union minister
Mon, Jun 24, 2013, 11:43 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 24, Chennai: An Indian Union Minister has said that India, before making decisions on Sri Lanka, should consider the far-reaching consequences of those decisions on the strategic relationship between the two countries and the interests of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
Speaking to the Indian newspaper The Hindu on Sunday Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan has said that any decision against Sri Lankan government would have a direct bearing on the Tamils in Sri Lanka and Tamil refugees living in India.
Commenting on the opposition shown in Tamil Nadu for providing training to Sri Lankan military personnel in Indian military facilities, the Union Minister has said that if India refuses assistances to Sri Lanka, the island's government can approach China and that will not be good for the relations with a neighbor.
"You should not forget that they have the option of approaching China if India turned its back on them. It will not augur well for India, a close neighbor of Sri Lanka," Mr. Natchiappan told The Hindu.
The Union Minister has pointed out that India already had problems along the borders it shared with Pakistan and it could not afford to create a similar situation that would disturb peace along the Palk Straits.
Noting that despite existence of adequate infrastructure, growth of industries in the Southern districts of Tamil Nadu had an adverse impact in the past due to the war conditions in Sri Lanka, the Indian minister has pointed out that a peaceful neighborhood was necessary for industrial development.
"Fear prevented industrialists from making investments in the southern districts. There is a harbour in Tuticorin, an international airport in Madurai and another airport in Tuticorin. Still we cannot attract investment," the Minister has remarked.