Indian Prime Minister to meet TNA leaders

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 August 2008, 14:58 GMT]
Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh arrived at Katunayake International airport at 12:45 p.m, Friday to attend the 15th SAARC conference. He was received by Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake and given a red carpet welcome. Later he was escorted by the Indian special guard forces to the helipad and flown to Colombo in an Indian helicopter.

Dr. Manmohan Singh is scheduled to meet members of TNA (Tamil National Alliance), SLMC (Sri Lanka Muslim Congress), EPDP (Ealam People's Democratic Party),TDC (Tamil Democratic Congress) and ACMC (All Ceylon Muslim Congress) Friday evening, according to informed sources.

Visiting Dr. Manmohan Singh has agreed to meet four All Ceylon Muslim Congress ministers and one provincial minister on Friday evening, diplomatic sources in Colombo said.

This delegation will discuss issues faced by Muslims and development work in the Eastern province.

The delegation comprises ministers Amir Ali, Hussain Bahila, Rishad Badurdeen, Najeeb Abdul Majeed and Eastern Province Health Minister A. L. M. A. Hisbullah.

Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will be meeting the Indian premier again on Saturday, the delegation will be taking up the present crisis faced by the Tamil community in the north.

Earlier, when a three member high level delegation from India visited the country two weeks ago, TNA parliamentary leader R. Sambandan explained to them the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka and their insecurity.

The delegation had requested Mr. Sambandan to visit India as early as possible to discuss the issues.

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