Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Jaffna

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???It is the action, not the fruit of the action that???s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your time,that there???ll be any fruit. But that does not mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing,there will be no result.??? – Words of wisdom from the Mahatma (Gandhi)

???My visit to Jaffna is to wipe tears from the eyes of those who suffered??? says Narendra Modi

???Tamils seek positive action to solve problems”, Northern Province Chief Minister Wigneswaran tells Prime Minister Narendra Modi

 
By Siva Sivapragasam
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and the leader of the world???s largest democracy flew into Jaffna in the Northern peninsula of Sri Lanka in an Indian air-Force chopper to take a look at a land and it???s people who have been ravaged by a thirty year old war.

The visit became historic as this was the first time that a Prime Minister of India visited the Northern peninsula of Sri Lanka.
Modi was in Sri Lanka on an official tour for discussions of a bilateral nature with the neighbouring country and was offering suggestions for a successful reconciliation process between the two main communities which had been torn apart during the last few decades.

Addressing the people of Jaffna who had gathered in large numbers in Ilavalai to listen to Modi at the handing over of houses built by India, Modi remarked in an emotionally choked speech, ???I get a different feeling when I step on Jaffna soil. My visit to Jaffna is to wipe tears from the eyes of those who suffered ???.Laying the foundation for a cultural centre in Jaffna,he proudly remarked that the new Centre would be of international standard and would be a show piece in the world.

Modi was warmly welcomed in Jaffna by C.V. Wigneswaran, a well respected former Supreme court judge who now heads the Northern provincial council as it???s Chief Minister.
Delivering a speech after welcoming Modi at the Jaffna Public Library, Wigneswaran stated that Modi???s forthrightness in wanting the full implementation of the 13th Amendment when he met then President Mahinda Rajapakse, after his ascension to power, was ???a step in the right direction??? though the path to ultimate resolution and settlement is going to be long and arduous.
The Chief Minister stated that after assuming office as Prime Minister, Modi dismantled centralized planning process to facilitate greater performance and productivity among the States in the Indian Union. ???We are no doubt happy you are yourself a proponent and an advocate of devolution. That exactly is what we are agitating for in Sri Lanka,??? he said.
Wigneswaran stated that the Indian Constitution provides for the facilitation of sustainable development, internal security, law and order, policing and protection pertaining to lands and so on within the State.
The former Supreme Court judge stressed that the ???emaciated??? Thirteenth Amendment has not brought the required and expected devolution to the North and East. ???Even today parallel administrative structures exist, one directed by the Centre and the other by the Province despite the appointment of an amiable Governor,??? he said.





???We seek positive action to be taken to resolve our problems,??? he said while proposing talks among the Indian Government, Sri Lankan Government and the NPC and the EPC to find ways of resolving the central problem of the Tamil speaking people in an innovative and creative manner.
???We seek justice and fair play to be established in the political arena and the constitutional framework in Sri Lanka to live with equity, equality and dignity.???
Modi returned home on Saturday night after wrapping up his five-day three- nation tour.The special Air India plane carrying the Prime Minister and his delegation landed in New Delhi at 30 minutes past midnight, according to Indian media
???The security of the two nations is indivisible. A life of equality, justice and dignity for Tamils is favoured for Sri Lanka in it???s new journey of peace and reconciliation???, remarked Modi as words of wisdom during his stay in the island nation.