PM calls all-party meet on Sri Lanka

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 6. The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has convened a meeting of all Opposition parties on Monday to brief them on the developments in Sri Lanka. The Telugu Desam is also likely to be invited to join this conclave; all other National Democratic Alliance partners are presumed to be briefed by virtue of being part of the Government.

Mr. Vajpayee has already had one round of consultations with the Tamil Nadu allies, and, later, he held special discussion with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi. On Monday, the Opposition parties in Parliament would get an update from the Prime Minister on the situation in Sri Lanka.

During the short discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee of the Congress(I) secured an acknowledgement from the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, that the Government would keep the Opposition parties informed before taking any substantive initiative on Sri Lanka. Though the Opposition parties, too, are opposed to any kind of military intervention, there is very little sympathy for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and some Opposition leaders believe even Mr. Karunanidhi is not all that excited about the LTTE.

But within the Vajpayee Cabinet itself some senior Ministers are suspected to be sympathetic to the LTTE cause; the consultation with the Opposition could be one way to bypass these pro-LTTE voices and to evolve a policy aimed at serving the national interests, which include a united Sri Lanka.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Next     : Sri Lankan troops on alert