Wed, Mar 20, 2013, 05:41 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Mar 20, Colombo: The Government of Sri Lanka will not interfere with internal matters of India and deal only with sovereign governments and not provincial governments, the Sri Lankan government said. The government spokesman and Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said despite the concerns Sri Lanka has over the recent hostile incidents in Tamil Nadu against the Sri Lankan citizens, Sri Lanka will only deal with the central government of India.
"We do not want to interfere with internal matters of India or any other sovereign state. Even as we express our concern about recent hostile developments in Tamil Nadu against Sri Lankan citizens that visit Tamil Nadu, it is not our intention to interfere with or intervene in domestic affairs of India," Government Media quoted the Minister as saying.
Condemning the attacks on two Buddhist monks in the Tamil Nadu state, Sri Lanka Tuesday issued a travel advisory against traveling to that state and cautioned its citizens to exercise caution if they travel for any compelling reasons.
Commenting on the recent events in the Indian state, the Minister said that those are internal issues that the government of India has to deal with as a sovereign state.
"We do not want to interfere with Indian sovereign government affairs just as much we do not want any other countries to interfere with our sovereign governance," the Minister said.
"Sri Lanka and India have long-standing and close diplomatic relations. We are confident that we can sort out the matters," he added.
India's External Affairs Ministry yesterday assured that it will take all measures to ensure the safety, security and well-being of Sri Lankan visitors to India, including to Tamil Nadu.
"The Government of India, in consultation with the concerned state governments, has taken and will continue to take all measures to ensure the safety, security and well-being of Sri Lankan visitors to India, including to Tamil Nadu," India said Monday.
Meanwhile, for a second day in a row the Buddhist monks and laymen protested the attacks on the Sri Lankans outside the Indian High Commission in Colombo.
The pro-LTTE Tamil activists attacked a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk at the Central Railway Station in Chennai while on pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya with several other Sri Lankans and previously a Buddhist monk pursuing an archaeological degree in New Delhi was attacked in Tanjavur when he was visiting archaeological sites in Tamil Nadu.
Indian media reports said that Tamil Nadu state police arrested 12 suspects in connection with the attack on Buddhist monk in Tanjavur and they were supporters of Sri Lanka's defeated terrorist outfit LTTE.