Seeking a political solution to the Tamil issue as a sequel to the victory over LTTE, India has asked Sri Lanka to ensure that every stakeholder gains from the settlement irrespective of religion and ethnicity.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is visiting Sri Lanka, said the country
should also ensure that the political solution to the ethnic problem does not come at the cost of any particular community.
"While a military victory has been achieved, there is also a great victory to be achieved in the political arena when every stakeholder owns the process and gains something from it," Mukherjee told a gathering here.
"A political settlement can only mean one thing —- a victory for all people of Sri Lanka irrespective of their religion, ethnicity, numbers or race," he said in his address at the fourth Kadirgamar Memorial Lecture yesterday.
Mukherjee said it was important for all communities of Sri Lanka to realise that a political settlement "is not a zero-sum game".
"It need not and should not come at the cost of another," he said, citing India's experience of a multi-religious and multi-cultural society.
He said through effective devolution of powers, equal status before constitution and equal access to opportunities, India had ensured that divisive tendencies were addressed in an open and democratic manner.