Delhi invites three parties from Lanka

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: Close on the heels of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision not to meet a parliamentary delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), India has invited representatives of three Tamil parties to New Delhi for an "interaction" on the current situation in Sri Lanka.

According to diplomatic and political sources here, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anandasangree, his counterparts in the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam, Sidharthan and T. Sritharan of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Front (EPRLF-Padmanabha), were due to leave for New Delhi yesterday.

"Sometime ago we had expressed our desire to visit India to exchange views on the prevailing situation as well as the possible role New Delhi could play in resolution of the ethnic conflict. We have just received a message asking us to reach New Delhi. At the moment we have no idea about the details of our itinerary and the authorities we could expect to meet in the course of our possibly three-day stay," one of the three leaders travelling to India told The Hindu.

The invitation to the Tamil parties is believed to be part of New Delhi's exercise for a better understanding of the situation and to explore the possible role it can play to resolve the ethnic problem. Diplomatic sources told The Hindu that efforts were on to include political parties in the south like the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).

"The idea is continued interactive approach with various political players in Sri Lanka for an understanding of the ground situation as well as a possible Indian role," a senior diplomat said. The visit of leaders of the three Tamil parties to New Delhi, particularly after the refusal of the Indian Prime Minister to meet the parliamentary delegation of TNA, is bound to be watched with interest in diplomatic and political circles here.

It could be interpreted as a reaffirmation of the Indian position that it does not consider LTTE as the "sole representative" of the north-east. Further it could be a reflection of the Indian approach towards the "marginalised" Tamil political voices in the face of the guns of the Tigers.

One of the leaders visiting New Delhi told The Hindu that in their interaction with authorities in India, they intended not only to apprise them of the current humanitarian crisis, particularly in the north-east, but also how it has been aggravated by the acts of the LTTE. "No doubt people are suffering the most. But the LTTE is also exploiting the situation to the hilt," the leader said.