'MDMA did not discuss Prabhakaran extradition'

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, DEC. 3. The Attorney-General of Sri Lanka, Mr. K.C. Kamalasabeyson, has said the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency (MDMA) team that was here last month did not raise extradition of the LTTE leader, Mr. Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Mr. Kamalasabeyson told the Sunday Leader that the Indian team wanted to interrogate an LTTE suspect, Nixon, who is in custody here and was allegedly involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.

Though permission was refused, the Attorney-General obtained a court order permitting Sri Lanka's CID to interrogate him and record his statement in the presence of the MDMA team. The MDMA was set up by the Home Ministry in 1998 to follow up leads that were said to have emerged from the Jain Commission of Inquiry into the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.

The Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani's statement in Parliament last week that the MDMA was in Sri Lanka to press for the extradition of Mr. Prabhakaran has already had its impact.

In an interview to the state-owned Tamil daily Thinakaran, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mr. Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, who has made it clear that the war against the LTTE would be continued till it came into the democratic mainstream, said, ``When a fugitive wants to talk peace, it would be the priority of the Government to think on those lines rather than act to extradite him.''

Another report in the Sunday Times, quoting official sources, said the mission of the visiting team was to gather evidence on the links of Tamil Nadu politicians with the LTTE.

Peace schedule

AP reports:

Norway, which is mediating between the LTTE and the Government, has drafted a schedule to de-escalate the conflict as a first step in the peace process, another report in the Sunday Leader said.

The Norwegian peace envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim, who made at least four visits to Sri Lanka this year, had drawn up a mutually- reinforceable schedule to be implemented on a staggered basis within a specific time, the report said.

Quoting unnamed diplomatic sources, the article said Mr. Solheim had formulated the document after consultations with both sides and would like to see it implemented on a ``step-by- step reciprocal basis''.

A definite date had not been fixed for the first stage of the conflict de-escalation schedule, it said.

The schedule proposes that the Government remove existing restrictions on the movement of food, fuel, essential goods and medicines to LTTE-held territory. From the LTTE, it expects the release of all police and armed service personnel in their custody.

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Section  : International
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