India reiterates support for negotiated settlement

M.R. Narayan Swamy

CUBA: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told President Mahinda Rajapaksa that only negotiations can resolve the island nation's dragging ethnic conflict.

At their meeting on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Havana Saturday, Singh emphasised the need for a negotiated settlement while firmly ruling out war as an option.

The Indian leader also underlined to his Sri Lankan counterpart the necessity to take into consideration the aspirations of the Tamil minority while convincing the Sinhalese majority to go for political concessions.

According to information made available to IANS, Manmohan Singh and Rajapakse had cordial discussions during which they touched upon at some length the crisis in Sri Lanka as well as international efforts to resolve it.

India is very clear that whatever the immediate exigencies, Sri Lanka should aspire in the long run for a negotiated end to the armed conflict. The two delegations agreed that the LTTE was a 'dangerous organisation', but New Delhi's belief is that this should not come in the way of talking to the Tigers.

A political, and not military, solution is what Sri Lanka should aim at - this was India's message. Rajapaksa said that Norway, the peace facilitator, did not consult his Government before announcing in Brussels that Colombo and LTTE would talk in Oslo early next month.

He said that there was a lot of opposition to Norway in Sri Lanka although he remained committed to its role as peace facilitator.

Despite the unilateral announcement by Norway, the President said, Sri Lanka had agreed in principle to talk to the LTTE. He alleged that the LTTE had continued to commit violence even after the Brussels meeting.

India strongly backs Norway's role as the facilitator. New Delhi believes that whatever the shortcoming, Norway, with international backing, alone has the infinite patience and ability to bring the warring sides to the negotiating table.

Although India is not a member of the Co-Chairs, it is fully kept in the picture by the international community seeking to end the Sri Lankan conflict.

On his way to Brazil and Cuba, Singh had told Indian journalists that New Delhi's efforts would be to ensure that the current ceasefire is held as a pre-requisite for a durable solution to the island's crisis. Singh also said that India was in touch with Norway and Sri Lanka.

"Our effort is to ensure that the ceasefire holds and that both parties are scrupulously committed to preserving the ceasefire," he said. "I think that is an essential prerequisite before we can move forward to a durable solution."

IANS