'India will take measures to ensure safety of Lankans'
Published: 04th September 2012 05:06 PM | Last Updated: 04th September 2012 05:06 PM | A+A A-
India today assured that it will
take all measures to ensure safety and security of Sri Lankans
in the country, saying the Centre was in "close consultation"
with the concerned state governments regarding this.
The assurance came in the wake of the travel advisory
issued by Sri Lanka asking its citizen not to visit Tamil Nadu
until further notice in the wake of "increasing number of
instances of intimidation" of Sri Lankans there.
"I wish to convey here that the Government of India, in
close consultation with the concerned state governments, has
taken and will continue to take all measures to ensure the
safety, security and well-being of Sri Lankan dignitaries and
visitors to India, including to Tamil Nadu," an official
spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs said.
He was responding to a query about the advisory by Sri
Lanka.
The spokesperson also said, "In certain instances, it has
been noticed that important visits have taken place without
prior intimation to the concerned authorities."
Emphasising that people-to-people contacts are an
integral part of the close historical, cultural, ethnic and
civilisational ties between India and Sri Lanka, he said, "Our
High Commission in Colombo issued visas to nearly 200,000 Sri
Lankan nationals to visit India last year, while approximately
175,000 Indian tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2011.
"It is this perspective that guides all our actions on
such matters."
The Lankan travel advisory says, "the government of Sri
Lanka regrets the increasing number of instances of
intimidation of its nationals visiting Tamil Nadu for the
purposes of tourism, religious pilgrimages, sporting and
cultural activities and professional training."
The government here is constrained to request Sri Lankan
nationals in the interest of their security to desist from
undertaking visits to Tamil Nadu until further notice, it
said.