Wednesday, Jun 12, 2002
Wednesday, Jun 12, 2002 |
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By C. Raja Mohan
The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe's talks with the Indian leaders here over the last two days, informed sources say, have helped "deepen the levels of mutual political confidence and open up new vistas of economic cooperation''. Mr. Wickremesinghe, who headed home this evening via Chennai, has left a positive impression on his Indian hosts. His regime, the Indian side believes, is imbued with a sense of purpose and a determination to move forward in a wide range of areas. Besides boldly seeking an end to the long and debilitating civil war with the Tamil minority, he appears keen on delivering a peace dividend to his nation at the earliest by enmeshing its economy with that of India. The talks between Mr.Wickremesinghe and the Indian leaders, according to sources, "were relaxed and forward-looking''. A joint statement issued after the talks said Mr.Wickremesinghe "apprised the Indian leadership of the current status'' of the peace process and that New Delhi "remains fully supportive''. But analysts here say the "moment of reckoning'' for New Delhi and Colombo on the vexing issues surrounding the extradition of Velupillai Prabakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, is "yet to come''. For Colombo, a political accommodation with Mr. Prabakaran is the key to ending the extended conflict with the Tamil minority. In India the LTTE is a banned organisation and Mr. Prabakaran is wanted in Indian courts in relation to the assassination of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in May 1991. While New Delhi continues to hold on to the legal positions on LTTE and Mr.Prabakaran, it does not want to flaunt them aggressively and obstruct the incipient peace process between Colombo and the LTTE. There is hope, however, that with increasing levels of mutual trust and confidence New Delhi and Colombo will find a way to manage the political challenges in relation to the LTTE and its supremo. India has begun to demonstrate a new flexibility on the various proposals from Sri Lanka to deepen bilateral economic integration and widen the ambit of the free trade regime between the two nations. A meeting between the officials of the Commerce Ministries of the two countries early next month is expected to resolve most of the outstanding procedural issues on the trade front. India also agreed to soften the terms of the $100 million credit it had extended to Sri Lanka some time ago. The two sides noted with satisfaction the recent agreements that allow the Indian Oil Corporation to distribute petroleum products in Sri Lanka and operate the oil tankages at the Trincomalee port. Of special interest is the agreement to initiate a feasibility study on a proposed land-bridge to connect southern Tamil Nadu with northern Sri Lanka.
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