MADRAS: Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s north eastern province Varadaraja Perumal said here the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) should not be withdrawn without ensuring completion of devolution of powers to the provincial council and making institutional arrangements for the permanent safety of Tamils.
Talking to newsmen immediately after the first round of his talks with Chief Minister of the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi, Perumal said India’s responsibility had not ended with the dispatching of the IPKF and safeguarding the integrity of Sri Lanka, in the present context it was also India’s duty to ensure the safety of Tamils and devolution of powers, he ‘said,
India, on the request of Sri Lankan President Julius Jayewardene has been withdrawing the IPKF. The deadline for the withdrawal is at present March 31 and a delegation from Sri Lanka, led by Foreign Minister Ranjan Wijeratne, was in Delhi recently to negotiate the deadline.
Perumal expressed satisfaction with his talks with Karunanidhi and said he had’ full faith in the chief minister. “He is like an elder brother of Tamils of Sri Lanka and we have full confidence that he will render justice,” he said.
Earlier, Karunanidhi told reporters he would apprise Indian Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh of the talks with Perumal. “If need be, I will have another round of discussions with the leaders of the LITE after my talks with Mr. Perumal,” he said.
Perumal said India had promised the Tamil representatives to get powers to the provincial council on the lines of powers enjoyed by state governments in India and should ensure that they got it.
The Indian government made this promise two years ago and the Sri Lankan government had agreed. “But the island government is deceiving Tamils by backtracking from its own commitments,” he said, adding that his government expected the Indian government to fulfill its responsibility without giving any room for deceit. He said ever since the Indian government started its efforts to protect the integrity of Sri Lanka, thousands of Tamils had died and hundreds of his own party men perished, besides the millions of rupees worth of property lost.
“To compensate these losses India, before withdrawing its forces, should take steps for the completion of devolution of powers and make institutional arrangements for Tamils security,” he said.
Perumal said the talks with Karunanidhi were general in nature. He would have detailed discusions,
Article extracted from this publication >> January 19, 1990
