Minister Chandrasekaran claims LTTE open to talks

Tuesday, Jun 10: TIRUCHI: India should play the role of a mediator to end the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Minister for Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication P. Chandrasekaran has said.

Claiming to be on a mission to meet political leaders in Tamil Nadu and New Delhi to create an atmosphere conducive for Indian intervention, Mr. Chandrasekaran said he had received positive signals from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to indicate that it would be open to talks.

"They [LTTE] are aware of our efforts. With Norway withdrawing from the peace talks, there is a need for a mediator. India has the moral duty and right to intervene in the Sri Lankan crisis," Mr. Chandrasekaran said, addressing a press conference here on Monday.

Other countries stayed away or were being kept away from the crisis, but India should not keep itself aloof. The war should end, and a permanent solution should be found to the problems of Tamils through talks. India, he said, could bring the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to the negotiating table, despite their seemingly rigid standpoints.

Mr. Chandrasekaran, president of the Upcountry People’s Front in Sri Lanka, said he and a few other leaders of his party had taken up the mission to highlight the sentiments of the Tamils. "We have already met a few political leaders in Tamil Nadu, and they have responded positively. We have sought an audience with Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party president L.K. Advani and a few leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). We hope to conclude the meetings within a month or two," he said.

The recent meeting between Priyanka Vadra and Nalini, a life convict involved in the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was a significant development. "We hope this will be a turning point," he said. The ill will that prevailed in India after the Rajiv Gandhi assassination was gradually disappearing.

Mr. Chandrasekaran said he would bring a delegation of Tamil MPs from Sri Lanka to meet Indian political leaders soon.