Sri Lanka's Tamil party to discuss reforms with Indian PM

Colombo, March 2: Sri Lanka's main Tamil political party on Monday said it will seek to discuss devolution of powers to the provinces when it meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sri Lanka.

Modi is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka on March 13, his first since taking office last year and which will also be the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister to Sri Lanka in over 25 years.

India has been backing devolution of powers to the provinces in Sri Lanka under an agreement reached between India and Sri Lanka in 1987 as part of a solution to the ethnic conflict.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) legislator M.A. Sumanthiran said they will discuss with Modi issues concerning the 13th Amendment which allows the provincial councils in Sri Lanka to have extensive powers including land and police powers, Xinhua news agency reported.

IANS