Sri Lankan Prime Minister Makes Historic Visit to North

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 14, 2002

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Makes Historic Visit to North

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Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made a historic visit to the war torn Northern peninsular of Jaffna Thursday and received an unprecedented welcome by the Tamil community on whose behalf the Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting an 18 year war for a separate state against government forces.

This was the first visit to the Jaffna peninsula by a Sri Lanka Prime Minister in 20 years.

Wickremesighe, who assumed power last December and immediately entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for a cease-fire with the rebels, visited the North to assess the response of the Tamil community to his peace initiatives with Norwegian mediation.

He was received as a hero by the minority Tamil people of Jaffna, who had been suffering under severe hardships for many years and now see him as the savior.

Wickremesinghe met civil administrative officers, military personnel and ordinary citizens, and discussed with them problems in his efforts to establish a permanent peace in the country through a negotiated political settlement as against earlier efforts of a military solution.

The Prime Minister also paid courtesy calls on the dignitaries of all religions in Jaffna and assured religious tolerance not only in the north but throughout the entire country as was advocated by Lord Buddha on his visit to the Nagadipa Viharaya (a famous Buddhist Temple) in Jaffna.

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