|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 23 May 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Tigers woo Sonia by Ranga Jayasuriya The Tigers lost no time in wooing India and especially Sonia Gandhi, the widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, soon after the election win of the Congress Party. While Congress leaders are pondering over forming a Government, Tiger ideologues went on an all out public relations campaign to heal the old wounds with New Delhi. It is no surprise that a top LTTE ideologue, V. Balakumaran, known as the chief motivator, described the election win of the Congress Party as "unprecedented and historic". Balakumaran - the former EROS leader who affiliated his movement to the LTTE to fight the Indian Peace Keeping Force- appealed to Congress President, Sonia Gandhi to show an "understanding with the Sri Lankan Tamils' aspirations". Speaking at the launch of Anton Balasingham's book, Viduthalai (Liberation), Balakumaran refrained from making any reference to the murder of Rajiv Gandhi by a Tiger suicide bomber or the Indian Peace Keeping Force, against which the Tigers fought till it withdrew from Sri Lanka.Instead, he said Sonia must surely be aware that her husband strived for a negotiated settlement for the Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict for which he held talks with the LTTE. Balakumaran called on New Delhi not to block the forward march of Sri Lankan Tamils towards "victory". Interestingly, he even had a soft approach towards Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jeyaram, an arch rival of the LTTE. "We don't even consider Jayalalitha an enemy. We are sure that she will turn over a new leaf". Indeed, the Tigers have long been trying to patch up its differences with India. Two years ago, at his maiden press conference, when the Tiger supremo was bombarded with questions over the murder of Rajiv Gandhi, Prabhakaran only said it was a "tragic incident which happened 10 years ago" and urged journalists "not to dig into the past". The LTTE has been cautious on its remarks on India. The Tamil National Alliance was asked to help woo India towards the Tigers. Winning over the Indian political establishment is part of a wider campaign to win international recognition for the LTTE. Moving to the peace negotiations; Japanese envoy, Yashushi Akashi expressed hope that peace negotiations will be resumed this summer. "I am hopeful of a dynamic resumption of peace talks in due course, perhaps in the course of this summer," he told the press briefing at the end of his visit. Earlier, expectations were that the Norwegians would announce the resumption of talks by last weekend, as hinted by Tiger theoretician, Anton Balasingham. LTTE Peace Secretariat Chief Pulidevan was this week quoted as saying the Tigers were waiting for an announcement by the Norwegians. According to Akashi, the Tigers said they need time "to reflect" on the content of negotiations. "The time and dates are not important," he said when asked about the delay in the announcement. "We don't want hastily arranged negotiations in which the sides are ill prepared. It is important to have substantial and fruitful negotiations," he said. Pulidevan was quoted as saying at a Foreign Correspondents Association event that the LTTE would meet its constitutional experts- who formulated the ISGA proposals - once again before going to the negotiations. Akashi expressed hope that disbursement of funds pledged at the Tokyo Aid Conference would pick up once peace negotiations resume. He admitted that aid disbursement could have been impeded due to the constitutional crisis. The four co-chairs of the Tokyo Aid Conference- Norway, Japan, USA and EU - will meet in Brussels on June 01 to evaluate the progress of the peace process and disbursement of funds. Adherence to the ceasefire agreement and the Oslo and Tokyo Declarations would be the benchmarks deciding aid disbursements. Akashi was impressed with the appointment of Jayantha Dhanapala, his former colleague at the UN, as the Head of the Peace Secretariat. Former UN Under Secretary for Disarmament, Dhanapala will take over the Peace Secretariat from Bernard Goonatilake on June 01.As peace initiatives were intact, another policeman, an intelligence operative, was shot dead in Batticaloa. Constable B.H. Dissanayake, shot by an alleged LTTE pistol gang member was the second victim this month in a spate of killings which had cost of lives of around hundred intelligence operatives, security forces personnel and non-LTTE political party activists. The recent shooting led to a crisis meeting at the Defence Ministry on Friday, attended by Defence Secretary Cyril Herath, Commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Chief Trond Furuhovde where the Army Commander informed the SLMM that the Army would step up security in the East and increase co-operation with the truce monitors. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
