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'India vital for peace effort'

BANGALORE, Sunday, AFP

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe began a pilgrimage in this southern Indian city Sunday saying that his peace process at home would not succeed without India's help.

Wickremesinghe arrived here Saturday on his way to the Indian capital to meet with government and opposition leaders and seek their support for the Norwegian-backed peace process, Sri Lankan officials said.

"Holding discussions with Indian authorities on the implementation of the peace process in Sri Lanka at this juncture will be critically important," Wickremesinghe's office said in a statement.

"It would not be possible to make our journey towards peace a success without the blessings of India," the statement said.

"We feel it is encouraging to find that the Indian opposition as well as the government is committed to a fair political solution to our problem."

Wickremesinghe is to travel to New Delhi Monday and is due to meet with the Indian President K. R. Narayanan and opposition leader Sonia Gandhi. He will hold talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Tuesday and return home the next day.

It is Wickremesinghe's second visit to India in six months. Shortly after coming to power at the December parliamentary polls, he travelled to New Delhi before entering into a truce with the LTTE.

The premier's office said Colombo will seek greater economic cooperation with India to revive the island's economy that last year went into a recession for the first time in 54 years.

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