COLOMBO: The suspicion of possible involvement of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the blast near Madras that killed former Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi might delay the possible resumption of peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil militants observers here said.
Informed sources here said the Sri Lankan government had recently established “high level contacts” with some LTTE leaders with a view to get the militants back to the negotiations table after affecting a ceasefire.
The unilateral declaration by the government to suspend all offensive operations against militants for three days from 26th midnight coinciding with the major Buddhist festival of “Vesak” was seen here by observers as a first step towards affecting a ceasefire to the almost yearlong battle between government troops and the LTTE militants in north eastern Sri Lanka.
Announcing the three day suspension of hostilities at the weekly post cabinet news conference on Thursday a government spokesman had said the ceasefire could be extended depending on the response from the militants.
The Sri Lanka government declared a day’s state mourning on Friday in memory of Rajiv Gandhi.
Flags all over the island nation flew at half-mast coinciding with Gandhi’s funeral at Delhi.
Describing Gandhi as a true friend of Sri Lanka Wickramasinghe said the cabinet presided over by president Premadasa has expressed sadness at the tragic death of the former Indian prime minister.
The Sri Lankan government has also assured all assistance to Indian investigating agencies probing the blast near the southern Indian city of Madras on Tuesday that killed Gandhi. It did not rule out the possibility of involvement of the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the crime.
“I cannot rule out the possibility of LTTE involvement” defence secretary Ranatunge said.
He said according to reports from Tamil Nadu the blast could have been caused by two explosions and was quite similar to the car bomb explosion at Colombo on March 2 that killed Sri Lankan defence minister Ranjan Wijeratne
However he said it would not be fair to make any further comments on the issue in view of the investigations under progress in India.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 31, 1991
