NEW DELHI, 29 December 2005 — India said yesterday it was concerned about rising violence in southern neighbor Sri Lanka and called for the resumption of peace talks between Colombo and Tamil Tiger rebels blamed for a spate of attacks.
New Delhi, however, gave no indication that it would accede to visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s request for help to revive a flagging peace bid after attacks that have stretched a 2002 cease-fire nearly to breaking point.
The Indian comments came after talks between Rajapakse, who arrived in New Delhi on a four-day visit on Tuesday, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“We are deeply concerned by the recent escalation of violence in Sri Lanka and repeated violation of the cease-fire,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters.
“This is a trend which can only undermine the search for a negotiated political settlement which is critical for maintenance of peace and resumption of talks aimed at finding a just solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic problems,” he said.
“Both sides agreed that the peace talks, aimed at strengthening the cease-fire, should begin at the earliest.”
In the latest bloodletting, suspected Tiger rebels staged two bomb attacks in the island’s embattled regions on Tuesday, killing 12 soldiers and a constable.
The soldiers were ambushed with a Claymore mine at Puloly in the Jaffna Peninsula, where 18 soldiers were killed in two similar attacks earlier this month.
Police said a civilian was shot dead in the northeastern town of Trincomalee early yesterday.
Official figures show that 81 people have died in violence linked to the island’s long-running ethnic conflict this month alone.
Asked about Rajapakse’s call to India to attend periodic talks held by the island’s main donors who are key stakeholders in the peace process, Sarna said: “India’s position in the peace process is quite well known.”
Violence has escalated in Sri Lanka this month with the rebels blamed for carrying out two claymore fragmentation mine attacks against the military in the past week, killing 25 people. A pro-rebel member of Parliament was also assassinated at a Christmas mass at the weekend.
But the government has held back from retaliating in the hope the Tiger rebels will be shunned and isolated by the world community. Ahead of his talks with Manmohan, Rajapakse once again urged New Delhi to help Colombo make peace with the Tamil Tigers.
“India has always been a friend to Sri Lanka ... India has always supported the peace process and they will support the peace process. They will, I hope,” he said.
India has had a long and complex involvement in Sri Lanka.
New Delhi is known to have first armed and trained the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the mid 1980s but later sent peacekeeping troops to Tamil-held areas before becoming locked in open war with the rebels.
India declared the LTTE a terrorist outfit after blaming it for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and has ever since kept away from the Sri Lankan conflict.
