“We can help people to contribute to peace and humanity” – Mumbai Peace Activists in Colombo

"India should lift ban on LTTE. I am of the view that, the ban should be lifted. I am against the ban" said Kudlip Nayar, a well known political analyst, and head of Indian Peace Mission- Mumbai Peace Mission.

Mumbai Peace Mission, consists of five members visited Sri Lanka from October 29th 2006 to November 2nd 2006. They met politicians, and civil society members during their stay in Sri Lanka, except the LTTE. This was the first visit of the Mumbai Peace Mission, outside India. They held a press conference at the end of their visit in Colombo on Thursday.

Kudlip Nayar further said that, "banning of organizations will never solve a problem. It should be solved through negotiated political settlement. India should lift the ban on LTTE, and engage them politically in order to bring an everlasting peace to Sri Lanka. The issue would be taken up in a meeting.

The A9 highway should be re-opened immediately. Almost all parties said that, India should do something. We should not keep a distance as we are. We are wanting to communicate with people, and see that we can pursue. We believe that, we can help people to contribute to peace and humanity. We are convinced after coming here.

Mistrust between the Tamil and Sinhala communities has increased. We have noticed some incidents of abductions in Sri Lanka. Disappearances and abductions are intolerable, undemocratic and cruel. This causes a great worry. Human rights really relate to the minorities in a country. Human rights issues have to be addressed immediately. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are the worst offenders in the South Asia region in terms of human rights violations. We are assured that, a commission would be announced soon.

Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights informed us that, Government of Sri Lanka has invited the former Chief Justice of India P.N. Bhagwati to be a member of a new commission, which will look into human rights violations in Sri Lanka."