Colombo mum on MDMA visit

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, DEC. 1. Officials here were tightlipped about the visit here of a team of the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) last month. The Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, told Parliament yesterday that the team was here to press for extradition of the LTTE leader, Mr. V. Prabhakaran, who was an `absconder' in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. it met Sri Lanka's Attorney- General and the Solicitor-General.

``I don't believe in giving information to the press,'' Mr K C Kamalasabeyson, Attorney-General, told The Hindu.

However, the news that India is pressing ahead with the extradition request has caused concern among those who are advocating talks with the LTTE and who see a glimmer of hope for peace after Mr. Prabhakaran's recent statement offering `unconditional talks' with the Government.

``Our appeal to India is that nothing should be done that would adversely impact the prospect of negotiations at this time because we want the conflict in this country and the agony of our people to end,'' Mr. R. Sampanthan, secretary-general of the Tamil United Liberation Front, said.

A senior Tamil politician, who did not wish to be identified, said that if India pressed the extradition matter at a stage when a breakthrough in the peace process seemed possible, it might even be construed as a `deliberate' act to wreck the process.

Speaking to The Hindu last month, Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar expressed confidence that India was no longer very interested in pursuing the extradition matter. ``I have felt no vibrations at all about this question. The formal request is there, it's been lying there for years now. No government of India has pressed us to do anything, because it is not a possibility, realistically speaking. If talks were to begin, the possibility might arise, but it is one of those hypotheses that we have not yet explored. It is not right to explore that. We are letting things lie as they are at the moment,'' he said.

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Section  : International
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