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23-09-2006

Manmohan refuses to meet TNA team

Amit Baruah

The front has been kept at arm's length by the political leadership The LTTE would have used a meeting with Dr. Singh to show that its ties with India were on the mend

NEW DELHI: In a setback to the Sri Lankan Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refused to meet its five-member parliamentary delegation camping here for the last couple of days.

"A meeting with the Prime Minister did not materialise," Mavai Senathirajah, a member of the delegation, told this correspondent on Friday. "We are taking a flight for Chennai this afternoon," he said.

A meeting between the Prime Minister and the TNA, which is a front for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), would have been used by the LTTE to project that relations with India were on the mend at a time the Tigers are facing enormous domestic and international pressure.

For the past three days, the TNA leadership had been waiting for a firm appointment with the Prime Minister.

It was finally conveyed to them on Friday that no meeting was on the cards.

"They met everyone who had to be met," a top South Block official told this correspondent, referring to the discussions the delegation had with National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed and Foreign Secretary-designate Shivshankar Menon.

It would appear a final decision that the Prime Minister should not meet with the TNA delegation, led by R. Sampanthan, was taken after the session the MPs had with Mr. Narayanan on Thursday.

With this decision, the TNA has little to take back with them to Sri Lanka as far claiming support for their position from the Government of India is concerned.

In fact, by refusing to meet the TNA, the Prime Minister has ensured that that a Tiger front has been kept at arm's length by the country's political leadership.

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said on Wednesday that he could not believe that the Dr. Singh he knew for the past 40 years would do such a "crass thing" as meeting "stooges" of the LTTE, which he described as a "murderous terrorist outfit."

Among Tamils, Dr. Swamy said, the TNA was known as "Tigers Nominated Agents" — those who were elected to Parliament on the strength of fraud, coercion and terror.

"They [the TNA] do not enjoy the support of decent civilised Tamils, who could not vote anyway," he added.

Source-The Hindu