Gandhi races against time

Press, 28 July 1987, Page 10

Gandhi races against time

NZPA-Reuter New Delhi

The Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, raced against time yesterday to bring Sri Lanka’s reluctant Tamil separatists to the peace table. Mr Gandhi had urgent talks with senior Indian officials after Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, rejected a peace plan scheduled to be signed in Colombo tomorrow.

Mr Prabhakaran said after talks with Indian officials that the Tigers, one of the five Tamil separatist groups flown to New Delhi for negotiations, would not accept Colombo’s New Delhibacked proposals in their present form. He said the Tigers had “reservations and misgivings on several accounts” and that although talks

would continue, prospects for the accord to be signed on time "’ere dim.

He said the rebels’ main sticking point was a demand that they should lay down their arms by Friday as part of the package, which would set up an autonomous council in northern and eastern areas where most Tamils live.

The 33-year-old guerrilla chief, flown by the Indian air force to the capital at Mr Gandhi’s invitation, has yet to meet the Prime Minister, who took over the External Affairs portfolio on Saturday.

Mr Gandhi had also summoned M. G. Ramachandran, chief minister of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, home to tens of millions of Indian Tamils, to join the talks. The state capital, Madras, is the Tigers’

headquarters. However, the inclusion of Mr Ramachandran, the most influential figure in his state, failed to break the deadlock. The External Affairs Ministry has remained tightlipped about the timing and location of the talks, but official sources expressed disappointment with the Tamils’ reluctance.

A Ministry spokesman refused all comment, and reporters have been kept away from the heavilyguarded hotel where the guerrillas are staying.

Nr Gandhi had been expected to meet Mr Prab hakaran over the weekend before leaving for Colombo tomorrow to sign the pact. Analysts said the signing, now likely to be delayed, was also threatened by mounting opposition from hard-liners among

the Sinhalese, the majority community in Sri Lanka.

The proposal seeks to end a four-year separatist war in which more than 6000 people have been killed.

The plan envisages a semi-autonomous region in north and east Sri Lanka administered by an elected council.

It also provides for a referendum in the east, where many Sinhalese and Muslims as well as Tamils live, to decide whether to merge with the Tamil-dominated north.

The Press Trust of India said the leader of one separatist group, the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, had already rejected the idea of a referendum.

Tamils constitute 13 per cent of Sri Lanka’s population of 16 million.