10 June 2000

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh flies to Colombo Sunday afternoon, carrying a 5-point brief from Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for personally conveying to Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga to allay all apprehensions about India's stand in the current ethnic Tamil turmoil the island nation is facing.

Vajpayee has asked Jaswant Singh to explain to Kumaratunga that there has been an extent of misrepresentation of facts causing confusion while India remains firm in its stand and even the DMK of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi is committed to this stand, sources in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) disclosed.

During his two-day visit to the Sri Lankan capital, Jaswant Singh will be meeting Kumaratunga as well his counterpart Lakshman Kadirgamar and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to reassure all Sri Lankans through them that Karunanidhi had not at all sought India's intervention to liberate the "Tamil Eelam" while theorising a division of Sri Lanka on the Czechoslovakia line as the permanent solution of the ethnic strife in the island's northeast region inhabited by the Tamils.

Sources ruled out the possibility of any meeting of Jaswant Singh with representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which is waging a bloody war for creation of a separate state for the minority Tamils as they pointed out that the Sri Lankan Government has banned the LTTE and the outfit has no office or any known representatives in Colombo. "We have, however, informed our High Commission in Colombo to explore the possibility of Jaswant Singh holding a meeing with leaders of the democratic Tamil parties there," the sources said.

Jaswant Singh is visiting Colombo on the invitation from the Sri Lankan Government and it is not correct to say that India decided to send him there to blow off confusion created in the past one week since after Karunanidhi's controversial remarks last Sunday, the PMO sources said.

He is supposed to convince the Sri Lankan Government that Karunanidhi's remarks had been blown out of proportions and that he also stands by the Vajpayee Government's firm view that there should be a peaceful settlement of the current ethnic conflict within the Constitution of Sri Lanka, keeping in mind aspirations of all sections of the people.

It may be mentioned that Thursday's meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security was also attended by DMK representative and Union Minister Murasoli Maran to show that there are no differences in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

It was at this meeting that Vajpayee, who was presiding, formulated five points to be conveyed by Jaswant Singh to the leaders in Colombo to remove all misgivings. These points are:

-- India respects sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka;

-- India also respects the rights of the ethnic Tamil minority in Sri Lanka and favours devolution of powers to restore normalcy in the areas witnessing the Army-LTTE clashes for the past one month;

-- India will not intervene in the Sri Lanka crisis and there is absolutely no question of any attempt, covert or otherwise, by India to liberate the northeastern areas of the island nation;

-- India rejects and disapproves any Czech-type division of Sri Lanka; and

-- India reserves its right to decide on continuation of training to some 2,500 personnel of the Sri Lankan army and para-military forces in various Indian military and para-military organisations which has been put on hold since past one month. (Almost 2400 of the 2500 personnel sent for training in the last batch were Sinhalese while Tamils numbered less than 100, sources said.)

Accompanying Jaswant Singh on his Colombo mission by a special Indian Air Force aircraft will be three diplomats, including Foreign Office Srilanka desk incharge Joint Secretary Leela Ponnappa, two officials of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), a senior officer of the Intelligence Bureau and five select journalists picked up by Jaswant Singh personally.

While Maran became the first leader from Tamil Nadu to learn about the Jaswant Singh mission to Colombo because of his presence at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Prime Minister has suddenly become cool to another NDA partner MDMK's leader Vaiko who had been carrying on secret talks with the LTTE on his behalf. The announcement of Jaswant Singh's visit to Colombo came to Vaiko, who is in Madurai, as a surprise news but he refused to comment, saying he would rather wait and watch for outcome of the new development instead of triggering any new controversy. END