Colombo: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoys M K Narayanan and Shivshankar Menon on Thursday met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and sought a political solution to the Tamil question while offering help in the reconstruction effort following elimination of the LTTE.
National Security Adviser Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Menon, who arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, met Rajapaksa at a close door breakfast meeting at his Temple Trees residence.
Details of the meeting were not announced, but an official source said they discussed post-conflict reconstruction in Sri Lanka following the defeat of the LTTE.
The sources said India had offered help in the reconstruction effort while nudging the government for a political solution to the Tamil question as promised by the President himself in his address to parliament on Tuesday.
India has prepared a Rs 500 crore rehabilitation package for the displaced people in Sri Lanka.
Prime Minister has already announced a Rs 100-crore relief package for Lankan Tamils in addition to the Rs 25 crore aid given by Tamil Nadu government.
India has been asking Sri Lanka to take political steps to ensure "effective devolution of power" so that Tamils in the island nation could live with dignity.
Meanwhile, the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance has refused to deal with Colombo
"If constructive negotiations take place we will certainly participate in them. But we do not foresee negotiations exclusively with the Sri Lankan government. We think that the Indian role will also have its presence in this negotiating process in some form or the other and that is very encouraging," said Tamil National Alliance leader Sambandan.
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