No tension between Lanka, India - HC

Sri Lankan envoy to India Prasad Kariyawasam told NDTV there was no tension between Sri Lanka and India.

He said Sri Lanka and India have historical relationships with mature democracies and the two leaders are fully capable of handling these situations without tension.

It is regrettable to witness such an unfortunate incident especially due to few fringe groups of pro-LTTE as well as who were supporting and continue to support LTTE ideology, have resorted to violence, Kariyawasam said.

Answering a question as to when Sri Lanka hopes to withdraw the travel advisory, the High Commissioner said the situation has to be observed first.

He said Sri Lanka was compelled to issue the advisory because it was so unexpected for a pilgrim group, a Christian Tamil group - who were mostly Tamils - to be attacked.

To a question by the NDTV correspondent as to whether the High Commissioner analysed why this has happened and his response to it, Kariyawasam said it could be that the defeat of the LTTE was perhaps difficult for them to accept and the LTTE was still alive in some Western countries - LTTE support groups - and there could be a nexus between them and the LTTE ideology may be still a platform to mobilise people and that could be one reason.

He emphasised there are other political parties who express concern about the welfare of the Sri Lankan Tamils, which is not a bad thing as Sri Lanka too is similarly concerned about them as citizens.

"But they should come and see the ground situation and observe things and discuss matters with us."