India-SLanka-Tamil
Representatives of three Sri Lankan parties from the north and east in Sri Lanka, just back from an official visit to New Delhi, have said that peace in the island nation cannot be achieved without `Indian advice and guidance’ and India has a `moral duty’ to play a role in the resolution of the ethnic strife.

A statement released in Colombo on Monday on behalf of V.

Anandasangaree, D. Sithardhan and T. Sritharan representing the TULF, PLOTE and EPRLF (Pathmanaba Group) gave a detailed account of their visit to New Delhi.

It said they discussed matters ranging from devolution of power to escalation of violence.

The military operation was ’precipitated by a foolish action of the LTTE who kept the sluice gates of Marvilaru closed, depriving the people of their drinking water and water for the large extent of paddy crops close to the time of harvest’.

The statement said New Delhi was given an `unbiased report’ on the events that led to the mass exodus of Tamil refugees from Trincomalee to Tamil Nadu.

It said the flight of the people could be largely attributed to the New Year-eve bomb explosion at the Trincomalee market and subsequent developments, said a report published in The Hindu on Tuesday quoting the statement.

It said S.C. Chandrahasan, a son of late S.J.V. Chelvanayagam, based in Chennai told the delegation that the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi had requested all schools to admit refugee children overlooking all formalities.

On the situation in the North, due to the closure of the A-9 Road, the delegation told Indian authorities that there was an acute shortage of essential food items and they were pressing the Government to send more ships with essential items to meet the shortage.

They also requested the Indian authorities to explore the possibilities of sending ships to Kankesanthurai and New Delhi promised to take it up with the Sri Lankan Government.

In their discussions on the ethnic issue, they pointed out that for the first time two major political parties had committed to a federal solution.

The three parties, however, would prefer the `Indian model’ and told those whom they met in India that the Tamils would not accept any other solution.

The pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance in a statement urged the international community to take note of the continuing military offensive by the Sri Lankan Government despite commitment for a fresh round of talks and urged the world to pressure Colombo to cease hostilities and pave the way for purposeful talks on October 28 and 29.