A delegation of five Sri Lankan MPs today met Tamilnadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and apprised him of the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils in the island nation.

The MPs, Senathirajan, Sambandan, Premachandran, Sumandran and Selvam Adaikalnathan, under the banner of Tamil Nationalist Committee, met the Chief Minister at his residence here, and said only a political solution would provide permanent relief to the suffering Tamils.

Talking to reporters after a nearly half-an-hour long meeting at Karunanidhi's Gopalapuram residence, Sambandan said he discussed about the Lankan Tamils issue with the Chief Minister and apprised him of the prevailing situation.

They told the Chief Minister to take steps to find a permanent political solution to the issue, which alone would solve the sufferings of the Tamils, who were housed in relief camps.

Accusing Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa of failing to honour his promise on resettlement of the Internally Displaced Tamils, Sambandan said the Lankan government was resettling

Sinhalese population in the Tamil areas thereby reducing Tamils to a minority.

He said as promised Rajapakse had not initiated the process of rehabilitation and resettlement of Tamils so far and urged the Chief Minister to take steps in this regard.

After a patient hearing, Karunanidhi assured the delegation that he would take all possible steps in this regard. The delegation members welcomed the Chief Minister's suggestion to send a special envoy to assess the real situation in the affected areas and the progress of rehabilitation measures undertaken by Sri Lanka.

Condemning the frequent attacks and killing of fishermen from Tamilnadu by the Lankan Navy in the high seas, Sambandan said a permanent solution should be found to prevent recurrence of such
incidents.

It is to be noted that Karunanidhi suggested a couple of days ago that the Union government, through diplomatic sources or a special envoy, assess the situation in the affected areas in Sri Lanka and the progress of rehabilitation measures undertaken by the Sri Lankan government for internally displaced Tamils.

In his reply to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who wrote to him asking suggestions on the Lankan issue recently, the Chief Minister said the proposed assessment could cover the timeframe for completing the process of resettlement to the satisfaction of the affected persons. 'This will enable us to plan the future course of action with a view to ensuring peaceful and rightful livelihood of the displaced Tamils.'