Kumaratunga may question PM
on LTTE activities in India
George Iype in New Delhi
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will face some uncomfortable questions relating to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam from Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga during her three-day visit to India from December 27.
Kumaratunga's first visit after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition came to power is meant to sign a bilateral free trade pact for gradually reducing tariffs and bringing them down to zero.
But external affairs ministry officials anticipate that she will take up with Vajpayee another crucial issue: the alleged affinity with the LTTE of some coalition members.
Ever since the BJP came to power, reports that the government has eased the crackdown on the LTTE in India have been worrying the Lankans.
Colombo suspects that Defence Minister George Fernandes has instructed the Coast Guard to reduce its vigil in the Palk Straits against infiltration by LTTE activists.
"Fernandes's sympathy for the LTTE is well known. We don't think key figures like him have stopped hobnobbing with LTTE activists spread across India," a Sri Lankan high commission official alleged in New Delhi.
The official said Sri Lanka views it "as a matter of extreme concern that members of the government are directly or indirectly supporting the LTTE cause".
What has made the Kumaratunga government nervous is the recent wedding of the son of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politician V Gopalasamy aka Vaiko in Madras, which brought hardcore LTTE members and senior Union ministers together.
Gopalasamy, an ally of Vajpayee, has been a staunch supporter of the Tamil Elam movement. His guest list for the marriage included Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Fernandes, Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, and LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran's parents.
While several LTTE activists and supporters attended, one key leader who blessed the newly-weds was Kasi Anandan, one of the 21 suspects named in Justice M C Jain's final report on the conspiracy behind Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.
Anandan and other LTTE campaigners like Eelavendan publicly stated during the ceremony that Prabhakaran and Gopalasamy were the only true saviours of the Tamils.
External affairs ministry officials said Vajpayee is likely to reassure Kumaratunga that India's stand on the LTTE remains unchanged.
Kumaratunga has been under tremendous pressure in Sri Lanka for her failure to make a breakthrough in the impasse with the LTTE. So she is eager to get an assurance from India that it will not ease up on the anti-LTTE crackdown.
On a positive note, officials believe the visit will usher in a new era of bilateral free trade pacts between the two neighbours.
During the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation summit in Colombo in July, Vajpayee had unilaterally unveiled a trade plan that called for bilateral free trade agreements to accelerate regional integration and economic growth. Sri Lanka was the first country to respond positively to the proposal.
Accordingly, India and Sri Lanka held the first round of talks on November 16-17 to settle the terms of the bilateral trade agreements.
To finalise the agreements on the eve of Kumaratunga's visit, Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar arrived in New Delhi on Thursday. He will preside over the Indo-Lankan joint commission that will finalise the free trade pact.
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