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LTTE is an anti-India force

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's visit to India has reaffirmed the cordial relations and natural bonds between close neighbours. The visit came at a difficult time for Colombo. The ceasefire between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has never looked more threatened. The LTTE has all but launched a war against Sri Lankan forces in the North-East. Thus far the Sri Lankan Government has shown commendable restraint. In this war-like atmosphere, the Indian offer of assistance for government reconstruction and development projects in the troubled North-East is important. Of particular significance are bilateral efforts to identify joint ventures for the development of the eastern Sri Lankan port city of Trincomalee, and its surrounding region, and the agreement for a joint venture power plant in the same district. These projects will intensify India-Sri Lanka economic co-operation in a region the LTTE covets. New Delhi did not take up President Rajapakse's invitation to join Norway, Japan, the European Union, and the United States as co-chair of the peace process between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE. But it has made clear its willingness to involve itself in the development of the North-East without a formal role in the peace process.

With this, India has forcefully made the point that it considers the North-East to be an integral part of Sri Lanka. At the same time, New Delhi appears to have successfully conveyed to the visiting President the futility of trying to preserve the unitary character of Sri Lanka in the search for a political solution of the conflict. The joint declaration states that President Rajapakse's approach to the peace process is "to achieve maximum devolution which preserves the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka." This nuanced formulation, which seems to indicate some flexibility and openness, could be one of the most positive outcomes of the visit. Can Mr. Rajapakse convince his allies — the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the Buddhist monks — that harping on a unitary state will be short-sighted? Among other things, such a stance will play into the hands of the LTTE, which wants neither a unitary nor a federal state of Sri Lanka but is hell-bent on achieving `Tamil Eelam.' Surprisingly, the joint statement is foggy about why the ceasefire is threatened. Instead of identifying the LTTE as the author of the escalating violence, it points to "the need for the strict observance of the ceasefire and immediate resumption of talks aimed at strengthening the ceasefire." Is the non-condemnation of the LTTE deliberate — a consequence of pro-Eelam parties in Tamil Nadu, two of which are constituents of the United Progressive Alliance, applying pressure by ratcheting up the noise against the Rajapakse Government? New Delhi must not forget what Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has been unwaveringly clear about since May 21, 1991: the LTTE is a virulently anti-India force and no quarter should be yielded to it or to its chauvinist supporters in this country.

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