India earmarks $100M for Sri Lanka aid

NEW DELHI, July 6 (UPI) -- Sri Lanka will receive $100 million from India to help rebuild parts of the nation after a long civil war, officials said.

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Parliament in his budget address Monday that the money would be sent to the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka to aid war victims and rehabilitate the country, CNN reported.

The U.S. broadcaster quoted Mukherjee as saying the Indian government was "committed to ensure that the Sri Lankan Tamils enjoy their rights and legitimate aspirations within the territorial sovereignty and framework of Sri Lanka¹s constitution."

The Tamil Tigers rebel group, which had fought for a separate homeland for the country's ethnic Tamil population, was recently defeated by the Sri Lankan army.