India closely monitoring developments in Sri Lanka
Dated 26/4/2006
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New Delhi: The Indian government held strategy sessions Wednesday in the wake of the deteriorating security situation in Sri Lanka while keeping a 'very, very close' watch on the island nation.
Meetings were held in both the external affairs ministry and in the strategic community after Tuesday's dramatic suicide attack in the heart of Colombo killed 10 people and seriously wounded the intended target, Sri Lanka's army chief Lt. Gen. Sanath Fonseka.
Indian officials were also in touch with Norway, the peace facilitator in Sri Lanka whose special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was still in Colombo when the woman suicide bomber strapped with explosives blew up at the army headquarters.
The Sri Lankan air force immediately launched air strikes at supposed targets of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the eastern district of Trincomale, killing an unspecified number of people and sparking an exodus of Tamil villagers.
Although the LTTE has denied involvement in the suicide bombing, there are no takers for this. Nevertheless, none of the governments that have condemned the suicide bombing have blamed the LTTE by name.
On Tuesday night, in the absence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is on a tour to Germany and Uzbekistan, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee called President Mahinda Rajapakse to denounce the suicide bombing and express solidarity with the government and people of Sri Lanka.
'We are shocked by the suicide attack,' Mukherjee told Rajapakse, who visited New Delhi in December. 'We condemn it in the strongest possible terms. Terrorism is completely unacceptable. Our solidarity is with the people and government of Sri Lanka.'
Mukherjee also reiterated the Indian stand that violence was unacceptable as a political tool and only negotiations could lead to a resolution of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
One Indian official told IANS that the government was monitoring the situation in Sri Lanka closely, fearing a possible full-scale war that had been held in check since the 2002 Norway-brokered ceasefire between Colombo and the LTTE.
'We are keeping a very, very close watch on the situation, almost on an hour to hour basis' the official said. 'We hope the situation does not slide to war.'
India and Sri Lanka enjoy close economic ties and any resumption of war in the island nation will hit New Delhi economically. There are also strategic considerations to be taken into account.
Over 60 percent of all Indian exports and imports by sea are through Colombo. The state-run IndianOil also has oil storage tanks in Trincomalee. Indians form one of the largest chunks of tourists in Sri Lanka.
Besides Mukherjee, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran also spoke to his Sri Lankan counterpart. Indian military officials who have been visiting Sri Lanka's frontlines regularly exchanged notes with their counterparts in Colombo.
Norway, which keeps India abreast of its peace moves in Sri Lanka, has told India that Tuesday's attack was a 'very serious' development but that it was still hopeful of putting the peace process back on track.
India outlawed the LTTE a year after a Tamil Tiger woman suicide bomber assassinated former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi at an election rally near Chennai in May 1991.
