04-07-2004, 12:16 AM
[b]நேரே மேலே தரப்பட்ட செய்தியின் பின்னணிக்கான சில காரணங்களை சொல்லக் கூடிய செய்தி...!
<span style='color:red'>India Maintains Caution After New Sri Lanka PM Seeks Help
Copyright © 2004, Dow Jones Newswires
COLOMBO (AP)--With Tamil Tiger rebels threatening to return to war, Sri Lanka's new prime minister moved swiftly Tuesday asking giant neighbor India to get involved in the stalled peace process with the rebels.
India maintained caution on the request from Mahinda Rajapakse and made no public statement, but New Delhi's top Colombo-based diplomat, Nirupam Sen, met with President Chandrika Kumaratunga hours after Rajapakse was sworn-in. Later Sen also met with Rajapakse.
India has an interest in Sri Lanka because the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu is home to 56 million Tamils who have ethnic and family ties with their Sri Lankan counterparts. Often developments in Sri Lanka affecting Tamils are felt in politics in Tamil Nadu and even in the federal government in New Delhi.
India lost 1,200 soldiers when it last intervened in Sri Lanka's internal conflict and was forced to withdraw. In 1991, a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, who had been prime minister when the peacekeeping deployment was made in 1987.
Rajapakse didn't elaborate on how India would get involved in the Norwegian-brokered peace talks that started after the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam signed a cease-fire in February, 2002.
"The Indian public opinion is against any military involvement in Sri Lanka," said retired Sri Lankan Air Marshall Harry Goonetilleke. "I don't think India will burn its fingers again."
"But if India makes a public statement now that it will not tolerate resumption of the war by the rebels, it will work," said Goonetilleke.
The rebels have made no new comment since their tough statement Monday that warned of war if their demand for broad autonomy for Tamil-majority areas was not met by the new government.
Rajapakse, 58, previously the opposition leader, is regarded as a political moderate even though he heads an alliance that supports Kumaratunga - who openly doesn't trust the rebels after they tried to assassinate her in 1999.
Rajapakse's alliance won most of the seats in Parliament, but fell short of an outright majority in fiercely contested elections last week and is now under pressure to form a coalition government with smaller parties.
Rajapakse identified peace with the Tamils as his main priority.
Rajapakse said Kumaratunga, who has criticized a cease-fire with the rebels and bitterly accused the former government of making too many concessions to the Tigers, would supervise the peace process and that New Delhi should take a leading role as well.
"India must come in as soon as possible and get involved in the peace process," Rajapakse told reporters. "I have always wanted India to play a role in Sri Lanka."
However, he said India's participation didn't mean that his party wanted Norway to step down as peace broker. But it was unclear whether he meant New Delhi should be diplomatically engaged or whether a troop deployment was possible.
Rajapakse's overtures to India come after the rebels said they hoped a political solution could be found to their demands for sweeping autonomy.
If not, "the Tamil people will fight to establish the Tamil sovereignty in their homeland," the pro-rebel TamilNet Web site said Monday.
Kumaratunga previously has refused to give the Tamils the degree of autonomy the rebels want, saying that would all but formalize the de facto state they've created.
Rajapakse had been a legislator since 1970 and enjoys wide support among the rank and file of the party.
Rajapakse's plans to pursue negotiations with the Tigers could be complicated following the defection of a powerful guerrilla commander in March, who took with him some 6,000 guerrillas from the 15,000-strong rebel army.
The main Tiger leadership has warned the government not to negotiate with the breakaway faction.
After hammering out the cease-fire that halted Sri Lanka's civil war, Norwegian negotiators withdrew at the peak of a power struggle between Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe last year, saying they would return only after the two settled their differences.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires </span>
<span style='color:red'>India Maintains Caution After New Sri Lanka PM Seeks Help
Copyright © 2004, Dow Jones Newswires
COLOMBO (AP)--With Tamil Tiger rebels threatening to return to war, Sri Lanka's new prime minister moved swiftly Tuesday asking giant neighbor India to get involved in the stalled peace process with the rebels.
India maintained caution on the request from Mahinda Rajapakse and made no public statement, but New Delhi's top Colombo-based diplomat, Nirupam Sen, met with President Chandrika Kumaratunga hours after Rajapakse was sworn-in. Later Sen also met with Rajapakse.
India has an interest in Sri Lanka because the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu is home to 56 million Tamils who have ethnic and family ties with their Sri Lankan counterparts. Often developments in Sri Lanka affecting Tamils are felt in politics in Tamil Nadu and even in the federal government in New Delhi.
India lost 1,200 soldiers when it last intervened in Sri Lanka's internal conflict and was forced to withdraw. In 1991, a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, who had been prime minister when the peacekeeping deployment was made in 1987.
Rajapakse didn't elaborate on how India would get involved in the Norwegian-brokered peace talks that started after the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam signed a cease-fire in February, 2002.
"The Indian public opinion is against any military involvement in Sri Lanka," said retired Sri Lankan Air Marshall Harry Goonetilleke. "I don't think India will burn its fingers again."
"But if India makes a public statement now that it will not tolerate resumption of the war by the rebels, it will work," said Goonetilleke.
The rebels have made no new comment since their tough statement Monday that warned of war if their demand for broad autonomy for Tamil-majority areas was not met by the new government.
Rajapakse, 58, previously the opposition leader, is regarded as a political moderate even though he heads an alliance that supports Kumaratunga - who openly doesn't trust the rebels after they tried to assassinate her in 1999.
Rajapakse's alliance won most of the seats in Parliament, but fell short of an outright majority in fiercely contested elections last week and is now under pressure to form a coalition government with smaller parties.
Rajapakse identified peace with the Tamils as his main priority.
Rajapakse said Kumaratunga, who has criticized a cease-fire with the rebels and bitterly accused the former government of making too many concessions to the Tigers, would supervise the peace process and that New Delhi should take a leading role as well.
"India must come in as soon as possible and get involved in the peace process," Rajapakse told reporters. "I have always wanted India to play a role in Sri Lanka."
However, he said India's participation didn't mean that his party wanted Norway to step down as peace broker. But it was unclear whether he meant New Delhi should be diplomatically engaged or whether a troop deployment was possible.
Rajapakse's overtures to India come after the rebels said they hoped a political solution could be found to their demands for sweeping autonomy.
If not, "the Tamil people will fight to establish the Tamil sovereignty in their homeland," the pro-rebel TamilNet Web site said Monday.
Kumaratunga previously has refused to give the Tamils the degree of autonomy the rebels want, saying that would all but formalize the de facto state they've created.
Rajapakse had been a legislator since 1970 and enjoys wide support among the rank and file of the party.
Rajapakse's plans to pursue negotiations with the Tigers could be complicated following the defection of a powerful guerrilla commander in March, who took with him some 6,000 guerrillas from the 15,000-strong rebel army.
The main Tiger leadership has warned the government not to negotiate with the breakaway faction.
After hammering out the cease-fire that halted Sri Lanka's civil war, Norwegian negotiators withdrew at the peak of a power struggle between Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe last year, saying they would return only after the two settled their differences.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires </span>
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