NEW DELHI, India, Oct. 25, Reuter: In New Delhi a government spokesman confirmed local press reports that India would send senior civil servants to run areas of northern Sri Lanka captured from the Tigers.
He said about six. Administrators would be sent soon.
Two Sunday newspapers had said 16 Tamil speaking civilians ‘would be sent.
They said the administrators’ mission showed India expected to be entrenched in Sri Lanka for longer than the few months it envisaged when it first sent troops in July.
The spokesman declined to give details about the move.
The Sri Lankan authorities had given the plan “tacit approval”, the papers said.
“The decision to send its civil servants to Jaffna indicates that India’s involvement in Sri Lanka is, not a short time proposition”, the Sunday Observer said.
New Delhi has an estimated 20,000 troops in Sri Lanka enforcing a July 29 peace pact designed to end fighting between Tamil ‘Tiger guerrillas and the Colombo government.
The guerrillas first agreed to end their four-year campaign for a separate Tamil state on the Sinhalese majority island, but early this month they took up arms again, saying the accord was not being implemented properly.
“The Indian government ostensibly wants to send civil servants to Jaffna because the civil administration, if left to Sri Lankans, might give the local Tamils a tough time”, the Observer said.
“Sending civil servants to administer routine affairs in another country was far-reaching implications. Such a step is normally taken only by imperial powers to administer their colonies”, it said.
The administrators would work in cooperation with the Sri Lankan authorities, the reports said.
“Their immediate task will beta restore the running of trains, reopen schools and ensure equitable distribution of food supplies and medical aid”, the Sunday Mail said.
The reports did not say how Jong the civil servants would stay in Sri Lanka.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 30, 1987
