An international study on Lanka’s peace process wants India to become a member of the co-chairs group that includes the US, Norway, Japan and the EU.
NEW DELHI: An international study on Sri Lanka’s faltering peace process wants India to become a member of the co-chairs group that also includes the US, Norway, Japan and the European Union.
The study, “Aid, Conflict and Peace Building in Sri Lanka, 2000-2005”, however notes that New Delhi may not be keen in view of its past disastrous experience in the island nation. The co-chairs oversee the peace process. “Given the sensitivities around excessive international involvement and the current level of domestic support (in Sri Lanka) for India, now would seem to be an opportune moment for India to consider the role as an additional co-chair,” said the report prepared last year but released only this week. The 105-page document said: “It is recognised that India, given past experiences in Sri Lanka, is wary of taking on the role of peacemaker.”
Authored among others by Jonathan Goodhand of the University of London and Bart Klem from the Clingendael Institute, the Strategic Conflict Assessment has dwelt at length on the internationalisation of the ethnic conflict. The report has the backing of the governments of Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden as well as the World Bank and the Asia Foundation.
India sent troops to Sri Lanka’s north and east in 1987 for peacekeeping. But the troops ended up fighting a costly war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), losing nearly 1,200 men. Indian troops returned home in 1990.
The study came out before the visit to New Delhi by President Mahinda Rajapakse. India then made it clear to the president that it supported Norway’s role as facilitator in the island nation.
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