New Delhi
2 April 2007
Looking beyond India, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha
Bogollagama on Monday sought "international backing" to isolate the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam and to compel the rebel outfit to resume dialogue for a negotiated
settlement of the decades-long ethnic question in the island nation.
"[We] need international backing in order to make LTTE differentiate between terrorism
and negotiated settlement ... isolate it, that will make it more positive to a negotiated
settlement," Mr Bogollagama told a news conference after the 28th SAARC Council of
Ministers concluded talks in New Delhi.
He reminded India and the other members of SAARC that "there are obligations to each
other" to implement the provisions of Convention on Suppression of Terrorism. He felt
the need for expanding into delivery mechanism and accordingly proposed a
comprehensive counter-terrorism action within SAARC forum.
Mr Bogollagama said that there was a need for coordinated patrolling by the navies of
India and Sri Lanka in Palk Strait to ensure the security to all fishermen. (Foreign
Secretary Shivshanker Menon said at a separate news conference that this proposal was
under consideration.)
Mr Bogollagama said that a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in SAARC was "only a
beginning" but it was a "good proposal". He expected it to materialise notwithstanding
reservations expressed by certain SAARC members. He said that there was no
difference of opinion between India and Sri Lanka on the way forward in the peace talks.
"India is cooperating to arrest this trend (of acts of violence prepetrated by LTTE)," he
said in response to a question.
The minister said that "any political movement claiming to represent and do represent
people will be made stake holders" by the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government. He added
that the All Party Representative Committee should be expected to take further steps
soon to give an impetus to Colombo's search for a homegrown federal model that will be
acceptable to all the communities.
On the recent killing of Tamil Nadu fishermen, Bogollagama said that he had discussed
the issue with Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee and it has been decided to
"put to rest" the controversy as the incident had happened within the Indian waters. To
support to his observation, he cited the statement of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M
Karunanidhi to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Indian Naval Chief Sureesh Mehta's
statement in this regard.
The Lankan minister said that the LTTE has been violating the ceasefire agreement by
compiling arms. "Ceasefire was only an excuse to build up arms by the LTTE", he said.
The minister's aide, Foreign Secretary Dr Palitha Kohona, added that the "ceasefire
agreement (was) still existing" but "(it) was an excuse to build resources and regroup for
next phase of war". The ceasefire was observed by LTTE in the breach, he observed.
No comments:
Post a Comment