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A senior Sri Lankan Tamil leader has sought Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's help in seeking a solution to the ethnic problem, suggesting that devolution of powers to provincial councils based on the Indian model can satisfy the minorities in his country.
V Anandasangaree, president of the Tamil United Liberation Front has asked Karunanidhi to convince the Indian government to suggest this as a solution to Sri Lanka, to protect the rights of the ethnic minorities of the country.
"Your participation by mustering support of all in Tamil Nadu forgetting all political differences is indispensable," Anandasangaree has written in a letter to Karunanidhi. He said the Sri Lankan problem should find a solution based on the Indian model.
"The powers similar to those devolved on various states in India if devolved on Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka, it may satisfy aspirations of the minorities and also will be acceptable to a large section of Sri Lankan people," he wrote.
He said the Indian parliamentary delegation, which recently returned from a Sri Lanka visit, seems to have been informed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that a Sri Lankan delegation is due to visit New Delhi with whom a political solution and re-settlement of the IDPs will be discussed.
Anandasangree urged Karunanidhi to make use of "this opportunity to convince the Central Government that a solution as proposed by me will be one acceptable to Sri Lankan minorities".
"Further more it will silence the entire Tamil population in Tamil Nadu and may even give credit to Tamil Nadu for helping to solve a half a century old problem," Anandasangaree wrote.
The TULF leader also sought the intervention of Karunanidhi to enable the internall displaced persons (IDPs) get enough compensation. "All the IDPs should be considered for the payment of compensation for their losses... Only with your participation the IDPs can hope for any compensation," he said in the letter.
He said the parties representing the minority groups in Sri Lanka were working together on a common programme todefend the rights of the minorities.