The Indian government has once again reiterated that it has been consistently supportive of the realization of the aspirations of the Tamils of Sri Lanka for equality, justice, peace and dignity within the framework of a united Sri Lanka.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had met a delegation from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) led by Member of Parliament R Sampanthan during his ongoing visit to Sri Lanka.

The TNA delegation had briefed Jaishankar of the latest developments, focusing on the March 25 meeting between the Lankan government and the TNA. They conveyed that the issues of release of political prisoners, land utilization, missing persons, 13th Amendment implementation and diaspora investment were discussed during that meeting.

The Lankan government's engagement with TNA also came up during EAM's meeting with the island country's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Jaishankar also received a more detailed understanding on this subject from his Lankan counterpart, Foreign Minister G L Peiris later on Monday. 

The External Affairs Minister welcomed in all these interactions the positive developments regarding the issues on the Government-TNA agenda.

"The contribution of India's development partnership to economic recovery in the North and East was also recognized in all the meetings. EAM expressed particular satisfaction at the virtual inauguration of the Jaffna Cultural Centre that he did along with the Prime Minister," said the External Affairs ministry in a statement.

Separately, Jaishankar also interacted with a delegation of Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) consisting of Mano Ganeshan, Thigambaram, V Radhakrishnan, Uday Kumar.

"Discussed the socio-economic issues of the Indian origin Tamil community. India stands committed to its development partnership with IOTs," he tweeted.

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