'We’ve no sympathy for LTTE'

(January 27, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) As he prepared to visit Sri Lanka, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has made it clear that India has no sympathy for LTTE but said that civilian Tamils have to be prevented from becoming victims of the conflict in the island nation.

‘We are for fight against terrorists and all sorts of terrorism. Therefore, we have no sympathy for any terrorist activity indulged in by any organisation, particularly LTTE (which) is a banned organisation in India,’ he told reporters.

He made the remarks hours before his departure to Sri Lanka, where the government has claimed to have captured Mullaithivu, the last bastion of LTTE.

At the same time, Mukherjee said India is concerned over the plight of civilians and ‘we shall have to see how civilians can be protected and they do not become hapless victims of the situation.’

He said he is going to discuss these issues with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and other Sri Lankan leaders. He will also meet Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama during his two-day visit beginning today.

He is expected to impress upon the Rajapaksa government the need for looking for a political settlement to the ethnic problem to ensure aspirations of all communities, including ethnic Tamils, are taken care of within a united Sri Lanka. India believes that military victory is no solution to the problems afflicting Sri Lanka.

Mukherjee is also expected to press for early implementation of the devolution package which is aimed at ensuring equal rights and privileges to all sections of the society.

Mukherjee’s visit is taking place in the backdrop of repeated demands by Tamilnadu that India should send the External Affairs Minister to Sri Lanka to stop the army offensive. Mukherjee recalled that Tamilnadu Assembly had passed a resolution some time back and a delegation of Tammil political parties had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

They had ‘suggested that India should look into the sad plight of civilian Tamils who have been victims of fight between LTTE and Sri Lankan armed forces,’ Mukherjee said.

At that point of time, the Prime Minister had said that he may send the External Affairs Minister to have discussions with authorities of Sri Lanka. The External Affairs Minister said subsequently he had held telephonic discussions with his Sri Lankan counterpart several times to discuss the situation.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon also travelled to Colombo earlier this month after which it was decided that Mukherjee will visit the island nation for more discussion .‘I will go to Sri Lanka and have a discussions with the President and other authorities there and to see what best could be done in this situation,’ Mukherjee said.

India has been maintaining that military victory will not address the ethnic problem facing Sri Lanka and that the government there needed to look for a political settlement wherein all communities, including ethnic Tamils, can live with respect and dignity within united Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan troops are meanwhile training their guns on the elusive Tamil Tiger chief who, defence officials feel, is ‘very much’ in the northern Wanni region.

‘Our aim is to capture Prabhakaran dead or alive and we are sure he is around Mullaittivu commanding the militants though they have limited options as most of the LTTE areas have been captured,’ a senior defence official said.

‘We are concentrating as a unit to target LTTE top leaders, especially Prabhakaran, as they might try to escape realising they do not have many options to hide,’ the official said. He felt that the guerrilla leader is ‘very much” in the Wanni region, which comprises Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu.

Announcing the capture of the main Mullaittivu town at the weekend, Sri Lankan Army Chief Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka had declared that the war was ’95 percent over’. The declaration came after the Army captured a luxury bunker and an underground command centre suspected to be that of Prabhakaran.

The Tigers have now been boxed into an area of less than 400 square km by Sri Lanka’s military, after the most successful campaign so far in a 25-year war.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse had said in a New Year’s address that 2009 would be the year of heroic victory over the Tigers, who have been waging war for almost four decades to establish an independent homeland for ethnic Tamils.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the conflict began but Rajapakse’s government pulled out of an on-off ceasefire last year and launched a fresh campaign to crush the Tigers once and for all.

Human rights groups have criticised the Tigers for forcing children to fight as soldiers, and the LTTE has been labelled a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and India. - Sri Lanka Guardian