The Hindu : We don't know what LTTE wants: Chandrika

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 15, 2003

International

International

We don't know what LTTE wants: Chandrika

By P.S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Oct. 14 . Identifying the Al-Qaeda and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as "the world's two most dangerous and ruthlessly efficient terrorist organisations'', the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, told the World Economic Forum (WEF) here today that they "operate in South Asia'' after being "born and nurtured" in that region.

Addressing a special session on `the prospects for sustained peace and economic growth in South Asia' at the WEF's East Asia Economic Summit, she said that "every one of the seven states of this (South Asian) region, excepting the Maldives, faces challenges from armed militant groups." The Governments in South Asia "bear the responsibility of finding solutions to conflicts" that gave rise to militancy.

The security-related "focus on South Asia'' was chosen as a special theme at the summit here in the specific context of the incremental economic interactions between the East Asian countries and India. The WEF and the Confederation of Indian Industry organised a working breakfast on India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as "partners for progress".

Pointing to her country's free trade agreement (FTA) with New Delhi, Ms. Kumaratunga said Sri Lanka could act, too, as a gateway for market access to India. Without mentioning either India or Pakistan by name, she identified the political problems between them as a factor behind the slow pace of economic cooperation among the member-states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. On the security front, too, Ms. Kumaratunga did not name Pakistan while characterising the Al-Qaeda as a terrorist outfit that was "born and nurtured'' in South Asia.

Later, in a conversation with a select group of international journalists, Ms. Kumaratunga said a Sri Lanka-Pakistan FTA "is on the cards''. Asked whether Sri Lanka had encountered India's sensitivities on this score, she said "we didn't have any objections or obstacles, as you call them, from the Indian side."

Fielding questions on various aspects of Sri Lanka's internal conflict and political situation, she said: "We still don't know what they [the LTTE] want... The leader has removed his main negotiator and replaced him with more hardline militant leaders of his party... they want an interim administration, which is what worries us, without any commitment to finally arrive at a negotiated settlement of the ethnic problem.

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