It is clear that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse is under pressure from his allies not to yield the land and police powers to provincial councils for fear that such devolution could excessively empower the Tamils in the north and the east. After losing their Eelam campaign, the minority Tamils would need adequate devolution of powers to be able to lead their lives with dignity and in peace.
“In India, land and police powers are devolved to the states, so why not in Sri Lanka too? Why remain suspicious about devolution of powers to the Tamils even after the Tigers are gone?” asked a Tamil leader here, requesting anonymity. “But then, denial has always been a state policy when it comes to handling the Tamil issue, Tigers or no Tigers,” he lamented.
If there was disappointment for the Indian team, it did not show. At the Saturday meeting with Mr Rajapakse, NSA Shivshankar Menon handed over a letter from PM Manmohan Singh telling him he had accepted the invitation to visit Sri Lanka. Though the actual date is yet to be worked out, it would be the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister for bilateral talks in Sri Lanka in 14 years.
Dr Singh is already under pressure from TN to act tough on the Lankan issue. Chief minister J. Jayalalithaa recently piloted a unanimous resolution in the Assembly demanding that Delhi impose economic sanctions on Sri Lanka and also pressure the UN to launch war crimes probe on the Colombo regime. The Lankan Tamil issue is expected to be high on her agenda when she arrives here on Monday to meet the PM.