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05-04-2006

India calls for 'southern consensus' in Sri Lanka

By M.R. Narayan Swamy,

New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) India Tuesday appealed for "consensus" among Sri Lanka's two main political parties to take the country's wobbling peace process forward.

The idea emerged as Sri Lanka's former prime minister and present opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and held detailed discussions with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan.

The subject of what is known as "southern consensus" - a meeting of the minds among the predominantly Sinhalese parties - in Sri Lanka figured prominently in Wickremesinghe's talks with Indian leaders, Indian and Sri Lankan sources told IANS.

"The idea has taken a new life since the extremists in Sri Lankan politics got mauled in the recent local bodies elections," an aide to Wickremesinghe said, as the United National Party (UNP) leader rounded off a hectic two-day trip.

The official was referring to the sweeping victory of President Mahinda Rajapakse's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and UNP's credible showing in the polls that dealt a blow to the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), a Sinhalese-Marxist group bitterly opposed to talks with Tamil Tigers and to Norway's facilitation in the peace process.

In brief remarks to IANS, Wickremesinghe said he came to India "as a friend" and to exchange ideas. Asked about New Delhi's role in the peace process, he said: "They are doing their best."

Talking to Indian leaders, the UNP leader admitted that Rajapakse's hands had been politically strengthened by the local elections, which were held ahead of the next round of talks between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) due in Geneva April 19-21.

Also discussed at the discussions were the direction of the Norwegian-brokered peace process and the LTTE's "sincerity" vis-a-vis an eventual peaceful settlement in Sri Lanka to end over two decades of ethnic conflict.

Wickremesinghe told Indian leaders that it was necessary for the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to return to the 2002 Oslo agreement in which the Tigers pledged to accept a negotiated end to the war within a federal model.

He pointed out that while India had been talking about a "southern consensus" for some time, it was time it adopted a more open stand on the issue.

Indian leaders reiterated New Delhi's firm support to a united Sri Lanka and for the promotion of pluralism in the island's northeast, parts of which are held by the LTTE.

Wickremesinghe's talks with the Indian prime minister lasted over 30 minutes but his luncheon meeting with the foreign secretary went on for about 90 minutes.

Wickremesinghe, who arrived here Sunday night, Monday met United Progressive Alliance chief Sonia Gandhi - whose husband and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE in 1991 - former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra and Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani.

Also Tuesday, he called on Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and another former prime minister, I.K. Gujral.

Another person Wickremesinghe met was Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP and the late Rajiv Gandhi's son who expressed a keen desire to know about Sri Lanka's peace process.

The Indian discussions with Wickremesinghe, who as prime minister signed a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement with the LTTE in February 2002, come during a week when Sri Lanka figures prominently in the South Block agenda.

Arriving here Thursday will be Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary H.M.G.S. Palihakkara. Contrary to media reports in Colombo, Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is not coming to New Delhi.

Norway's new peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Jan Hanssen-Bauer, will be here Friday along with Erik Solheim, the long-time Norwegian facilitator, to discuss the Geneva peace talks and the unfolding scenario in the island nation.

Source-IANS