India’s help significant in defeating Tigers - Sri Lanka minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 09:28 GMT]
Nimal Sripala de Silva, a cabinet minister in Sri Lanka parliament, said that India’s great assistance helped Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to defeat the Liberation Tigers and that the people of Sri Lanka should be grateful to India, while responding to the strong accusation against allowing Indian Medical team into Sri Lanka by Anurakumara Tissanayake, the parliamentary group leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, during the proceedings of the House of Representatives when it met Tuesday around 9:30, sources in Colombo said.

Anurakumara Tissanayake pointed out that the Indian medical team in question is really a wing of the Indian Army and that its members will engage in espionage from Pullmoaddai hospital helping the Liberation Tigers.

Tissanayake had submitted a lengthy report on this issue expressing his strong condemnation and protest against the coming of Indian medical team to Sri Lanka.

The report was presented in the House with the permission of the Speaker at the end of question time.

Minister Nimal Sripala de Silva also told the members of the House that the Government of India is providing its co-operation and support for the war against the Liberation Tigers to the Rajapakse government.

The minister told the House that as no Sri Lankan doctor was willing to treat the SLA soldiers, fifty of them have been forcibly enlisted to serve.

Therefore no one can protest against the presence of Indian medical team in Sri Lanka, he further added.

Meanwhile, National Independent Front (NIP) led by Wimal Weerawansa and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the Buddhist Monks party, had expressed their strong opposition to the coming of the Indian Medical team in a press meet held in Colombo last week.