Sri Lanka President Wickremesinghe orders fast-tracking of national policy on reconciliation with Tamils

Colombo, Jun 9 (PTI) Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed relevant government departments to expedite the drafting of legislation necessary for the implementation of the Action Plan for Reconciliation that seeks to address the thorny issue of ethnic reconciliation of Tamilians in the island nation. Sri Lanka has endured a three-decade conflict including a protracted and brutal armed conflict, between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the country's armed forces.

On May 18, 2009, the separatist campaign led by the LTTE to establish a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern province of the island nation came to an end with the killing of the LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakaran by the Sri Lankan Army. In 2015, the Sri Lankan government renewed its commitment to reconciliation and thereafter embarked on several initiatives for national reconciliation.

The Action Plan for Reconciliation was part of the government's need for a comprehensive national policy to resolve these prickly issues.