Sri Lanka conflict to dominate Rajapakse's India visit
Nov 22, 2006 - 4:34:35 PM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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It is, of course, a pure coincidence, but Rajapakse will be here when LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran will make his annual policy speech Nov 27.
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By M.R. Narayan Swamy, Indo-Asian News Service,
[RxPG] New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) India and Sri Lanka are expected to have a free and frank exchange on the ethnic conflict when President Mahinda Rajapakse arrives here at the weekend on his second trip in a year amid unending violence in the island.
Rajapakse is scheduled to open an international conference of mayors at Dehradun in Uttaranchal during a five-day journey that will include a private leg and discussions with Indian leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Sri Lankan opposition leader and former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is also tipped to be in India around the same time.
'The president is looking forward to meetings with Indian leaders,' an informed Sri Lankan source told IANS. 'The programme is still being worked out. But he is to have discussions with the Indian leadership.'
Rajapakse, accompanied by ministers and senior officials, will fly into New Delhi Saturday evening. On Sunday he will be in Dehradun - the same place where the Tamil Tigers and other Tamil militants got military training in the 1980s.
The president, who will get very high security while in India, returns here Monday evening and goes back to Colombo Nov 29 after what are widely expected to be 'useful discussions' on bilateral and other issues.
Said the informed source: 'Sri Lanka is confident there will be candid and friendly exchange of views between the two countries on every aspect including bilateral relations and the situation (in the island).'
Rajapakse last visited India in December 2005, only a month after becoming the president when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) started mounting attacks on security forces.
Sri Lanka was not too happy with that visit. Some of the president's aides felt that New Delhi was too equidistant between Colombo and the LTTE.
Since then, the situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated rapidly, with violence involving the military, LTTE and the LTTE's breakaway faction leaving well over 2,000 dead and displacing hundreds of thousands of mainly Tamil people, about 16,000 of who have fled to India.
Manmohan Singh and Rajapakse last met in September on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Havana. Despite their few meetings, the two leaders speak to one another frequently over the telephone.
The Indian government will be eager to listen to Rajapakse at some length about the situation in Sri Lanka, where the Norway-brokered 2002 ceasefire agreement between Colombo and LTTE now exists only on paper.
Manmohan Singh is expected to reiterate to Rajapakse India's support for Sri Lanka's territorial unity but voice concern over the killings of civilians and press the urgency to return to the now derailed dialogue process.
Indian sources admit this is easier said than done.
There is a feeling here that Indian appeals to meet the legitimate political aspirations of the Tamils are more or less ignored in Sri Lanka, where sections of the political establishment are adamantly opposed to talks with the LTTE.
Only this month, the Indian prime minister assured Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and MDMK leader Vaiko that India would not sell military hardware to Sri Lanka and convey New Delhi's concerns to Colombo.
In Dehradun, Rajapakse is expected to move away from the mayors' conference soon after the inauguration for the private part of his visit. In New Delhi, new External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and opposition leader L.K. Advani are to call on him.
It is, of course, a pure coincidence, but Rajapakse will be here when LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran will make his annual policy speech Nov 27.
The LTTE is facing one of its most serious military challenges, with sections of the Colombo establishment determined to pursue a military approach to defeat the reputedly never-say-die Tigers.
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