Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis may soon be eased

President of Sri Lanka and India’s Prime Minister appear to have set their minds on it
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Sri Lanka Guardian Bureau Report

(October 19, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) An unexpectedly rare telephone conversation between President Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka and Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India appears to have been quite promising to be productive and to lay the path towards a resolution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis in the very near future.

It appears a decision has been made for Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama,President Secretary Lalith Weerathunga and Presidential Adviser and National List Member of Parliament Basil Rajapaksa to leave for New Delhi next week to share with the Indian Prime Minister the ideas, plans and proposal President Rajapaksa has towards brining communal peace and understanding in the country.

Sri Lanka Guardian understands from reliable sources close to the Government of Sri Lanka that President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will seek a solution based on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that was enacted two decades ago.

Both President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Singh also discussed their concerns about the difficulties and dangers fisher folks face while fishing in the Indo-Sri Lankan waters.

Our Indian Affairs consultant Durga Velautham reporting from New Delhi reacted to this development saying there now seems a light that has appeared finally at the end of the tunnel in respect of the war that has caused many lives and affected the country virtually bringing it to its knees. This issue, Durga Velautham observed is not just Sri Lanka’s; it has a regional bearing and India has to play a major role in bringing about a settlement.

Reacting to the politicians in Tamil Nadu, Durga Velautham warned that Sri Lankan Tamils should not place their stakes on the politicians across the waters in South India. Too many of them are political opportunists and have unnecessarily sensationalized to their advantage a deep-seated problem for which they have no answers; only emotional misdirection.

She further commented that Tamil Nadu politicians are too concerned about their own political future. Raised mostly on the cinematic emotions, they have never tried to understand the real and genuine needs of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. After all, some of these politicians who support such a destructive force as the LTTE ignore that one of India’s finest sons and one who was the prime minister of the country was assassinated in Tamil Nadu by the LTTE suicide squad.

In fact, the 13th Amendment on which a solution may be reached, Durga Velautham said, was based on what India’s Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was able to persuade the Sri Lankan President J R Jayawardene to accept but was opposed by the LTTE leader V Prabhakaran. If the LTTE leader had any vision at that time, Durga Velautham said, the ethnic issue would have been solved and India would have assisted Sri Lanka with a major development programme. (18/10/2008) - Sri Lanka Guardian