Hindustan Times Editorial on Sri Lanka:

Step back from the brink

SRI LANKAN President Mahinda Rajapakse's visit to India will have served its purpose if it prompts the early resumption of the stalled peace process in the island.

Mr. Rajapakse had wide-ranging talks on ways of enhancing bilateral cooperation in various fields, particularly in business.

The express aim of his visit, however, was obviously to enlist India's participation in the peace process. It will not be easy for the Manmohan Singh government to markedly increase its participation in the peace process, other than as an observer.

This is particularly so because state elections are due in Tamil Nadu early next year. Besides, it's too soon for India to forget the disastrous experience of the eighties that indirectly led to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

While both countries agree on the need to resume peace talks as soon as possible, the India leadership did well to advise the Lankan president not to make the venue for the talks an issue.

Colombo has reservations about continuing with the Norwegian facilitators and sitting around a negotiating table at Oslo - an LTTE precondition for talks.

The escalating violence in Sri Lanka that overshadowed Mr. Rajapakse's four-day trip was a grim reminder of the need to revive the peace process soon.

Of late, the rebels have increasingly violated the 2002 ceasefire that has so far managed to keep a fragile peace in the island. Soon after the new president took office, the LTTE attacked and killed six Sinhala soldiers in the Jaffna peninsula.

It is not improbable that the assassination of Joseph Pararajasingham, a senior pro-LTTE MP, last Sunday could trigger more attacks.

The delay in restarting the talks gives the LTTE time to test the waters to gain tactical advantage. The rebels have apparently determined that they can carry on their activities, at least for now, cocking a snook at international opinion based on feedback from its advisors in Europe and the Americas.

This is in keeping with the outfit's terrorist tactics - an option, alas, not available to Mr. Rajapakse.