国际英语新闻:Protest staged during Indian PM's visit to Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, March 14 (Xinhua) -- A protest was staged in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna town on Saturday when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a landmark visit to the area as part of a two- day visit to Sri Lanka.

Families of those reportedly missing in the Sri Lankan war staged the protest calling for India's intervention to put pressure on the government to find those missing.

The protesters also urged India to address the fishermen issue and put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to hand over lands in the north to the Tamil civilians.

Modi was on a landmark visit to Jaffna on Saturday where he spoke at the Jaffna Library and also inaugurated a housing project there.

During the visit, Modi handed over 27,000 new homes to the Tamil civilians who were displaced in the war from a project which aims to construct 50,000 homes for the Tamils.

"These houses are not merely walls of bricks and stone. These houses are an effort to make the lives of those who have suffered happier," the Indian prime minister tweeted after the handing over ceremony.

"Am glad this programme, my final public programme during my Sri Lanka visit, is one to wipe tears from the eyes of those who suffered," he added.

Addressing the Tamil people after laying the foundation stone for the Jaffna Cultural Centre, Modi said that Jaffna is spreading the message of peace to the world and added that India is proud to have an opportunity to establish a unique and world level cultural centre in the north.

"I assure you that the work we've started will be completed well in time and will be better than your imagination. I'm confident that the Talaimannar Railway project will give pace to the development of this area," Modi said.