"It is the right of every Sri Lankan to be able to travel trouble free and without harassments to any part of the world."
The TNA is not at all happy about these recent incidents in Tamil Nadu; they should not happen to anyone. Any Sri Lankan should have the right to travel to any part of India without being harassed in this manner. We are certainly of the view that it is the right of every Sri Lankan to be able to travel trouble free and without harassments to any part of the world. I won't hesitate to take the matter up with the Indian authorities should the opportunity arise.
Indo - Sri Lanka relations are something about which we cannot be concerned only for the moment. It's a very long standing historical relationship quite apart from our extreme geographical proximity. And Indo - Sri Lanka relations is something about which we will have to be concerned not merely in the present but for all time in the future. India is a growing economic power and is expected to be one of the leading economic powers in the world with very strong resources, if not already in the very near future. India has a huge middle class market probably even bigger than all of the European countries put together. Sri Lanka has immense opportunity to benefit extensively from this huge middle class market that India possesses and will perhaps build on in the future. Our ties with India must necessarily get closer and it will greatly benefit Sri Lanka. India is a technologically and scientifically advanced country and Sri Lanka could benefit immensely from the technical and scientific knowledge that India can make available to us. We need to interact more closely with India even in the field of science and technology and this should be of immense benefit to the younger generation of Sri Lankans. India has always wished Sri Lanka very well. India has publicly pronounced that it is firmly committed to Sri Lanka's unity and territorial integrity and has clearly demonstrated its commitment more than once. India is a multi-lingual multi-cultural plural society comprising of large Indian states, middle sized Indian state and small Indian states occupied by people with a different linguistic and cultural background. And India has a constitution framed by its founding fathers which is based upon the free thoughts of the Indian freedom struggle which has been successful in holding the country together. India's unity is in its in diversity; it sets an example to us in this regard as to how a multi lingual, multi-cultural plural societies can co-exist with a sense of belonging and unstinted loyalty to the country to which they belong. In India every citizen is first an Indian and only thereafter is indemnified on the basis of language and culture. If Sri Lanka wants to be redeemed from its present conflict which has assumed critical proportions India is an example that Sri Lanka should follow where big states, medium states and small states all exist together respecting linguistic and cultural backgrounds on the basis of equality. India's goodwill towards Sri Lanka must be fully utilized by us to redeem itself from the current critical situation.