Headlines
Modi lays foundation stone of Jaffna cultural centre
Colombo, March 14
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday laid the foundation stone of the Jaffna cultural centre.
"Laid the foundation stone of the Jaffna Cultural Centre," the prime minister tweeted along with a picture.
He
also met Northern Province's Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, according
to a tweet by Indian external affairs ministry spokesman, Syed
Akbaruddin.
"PM @narendramodi meets with Northern Province CM Wigneswaran in Jaffna Public Library," the spokesman tweeted.
Modi
is the first Indian prime minister and only the second foreign leader
after British Prime Minister David Cameron to visit Jaffna in the
war-ravaged northern province.
Earlier in the day, Modi arrived
in North Central Province's capital city of Anuradhapura where he along
with Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena offered prayers at the
Mahabodhi tree.
"PM @narendramodi offering prayers," PMO India tweeted with a picture and a video footage.
After
his Anuradhapura visit, Modi flagged off a train service in the town of
Talaimannar, which opened the Talaimannar-Medawachchiya sector of the
train service to Colombo, following the rehabilitation work carried out
with Indian credit assistance.
Accompanied by Sirisena, he unveiled a plaque inaugurating Talaimannar 1650 Pier Railway station.
Modi's
visit to Sri Lanka is the first official visit by an Indian prime
minister in 27 years after the 1987 visit by then prime minister Rajiv
Gandhi. Sri Lanka is the third and final leg of his three-nation visit.
Modi
arrived in Colombo on Friday and was received by Sri Lankan Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the airport and later he was accorded a
ceremonial welcome by Sirisena.
Modi visits Jaffna, hands over houses to Tamils (Roundup)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday visited Jaffna, becoming the first Indian premier to set foot in the war-ravaged town in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated Northern Province, where he handed over homes built with Indian assistance to displaced local Tamils.
Modi also laid the foundation stone of a
cultural centre in Jaffna. He is the second foreign leader to visit the
town, about 400 km north of Colombo, after British Prime Minister David
Cameron in November 2013.
He also visited the North Central
Province's capital city of Anuradhapura where he, along with Sri Lanka
President Maithripala Sirisena, offered prayers at the sacred Mahabodhi
tree.
After this, Modi flagged off a train service in the town of
Talaimannar and also unveiled a plaque inaugurating the local railway
station.
The Jaffna housing project, built with Indian assistance, will provide shelter to 27,000 families.
Speaking
on the occasion, Modi said: "This project will provide shelter to
27,000 families. These houses are not just walls made of brick and
stones, but an opportunity to share the sorrow of the needy and help
them."
He said the owner-driven reconstruction project idea was begun in Gujarat after the 2001 earthquake.
Modi also participated in the symbolic milk boiling ceremony to mark house warming being performed by the families.
He also offered prayers at the the Naguleswaram Temple in Jaffna. "Feeling blessed", he tweeted.
At
Talaimannar, he inaugurated the Talaimanar 1650 pier railway station
and flagged off the Talaimannar- Medawachchiya train service to Colombo,
following the rehabilitation work carried out with Indian credit
assistance.
Speaking on the occasion, Modi said Sri Lanka and
India ties are special. "We are not just neighbours but joined by our
cultural relations."
He said the Talaimanar railway project would give a fillip to the economic progress of the area.
The
railway line, which will stretch from the Talaimannar Pier to Madhu
Road, covering a distance of 60 km, will provide connectivity for the
people of Northern Province to the rest of the country.
Modi's
visit came a day after he gently nudged Sri Lanka to reach out to its
Tamil minority and branded the the vanquished Tamil Tigers terrorists
while he outlining his determination to build a stronger economic
relationship with Colombo.
In a carefully worded speech delivered
in parliament on Friday, Modi emphasized that Colombo, which crushed
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, needed to
respect all diversities -- for its own good.
Sri Lanka, he said
to loud thumping of desks by the MPs, had successfully defeated
terrorism and ended a long-running conflict that claimed thousands of
lives since 1983.
"You now stand at a moment of historic
opportunity to win the hearts and heal the wounds across all sections of
society," he said, speaking in English to an audience of mostly
Sinhalese politicians.
The prime minister is in Sri Lanka on the
third and final leg of his five-day three-nation tour. He is the first
Indian prime minister to visit Sri Lanka in 28 years. Earlier, he
visited Mauritius and Seychelles.