COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government on Wednesday criticized minority Tamil parties for writing to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting Indian help in implementing the 13th Amendment and finding a long-term solution to the country's long-standing Tamil issues.

Udaya Gammanpila, the Energy Minister and Cabinet spokesman, remarked that if Tamil parties were concerned about the implementation of the 13th Amendment, they should have addressed their concerns to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa rather than the Indian Prime Minister.

"If our Tamil parties have a concern or a worry about the implementation of the 13th Amendment, they should have communicated their concerns to our President instead of the Indian Prime Minister," he said during a briefing on Cabinet decisions in answer to a journalist's inquiry.

"We are a sovereign country, not a part of the Indian Union," Gammanpila, who is also the leader of the Rajapaksa government's Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (Pure Sinhala Heritage Party), said. "If our Tamil brothers had any concerns about the implementation of the 13th Amendment, they should have approached our elected administration instead of outsiders," he SAID. Minister Ramesh Pathirana, another Cabinet spokesman, said that the Sri Lankan government had properly executed the 13th Amendment and that the Rajapaksas had held elections after the conflict.

Leading Tamil political parties representing Northern Tamils presented Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay with a seven-page letter addressed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

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