India denies opposing inclusion of Britain, Japan in Lanka peace panel

India denies opposing inclusion of Britain, Japan in Lanka peace panel
SONIA TRIKHA

NEW DELHI, FEB 19: India today denied reports that it had opposed the inclusion of Britain and Japan in a monitoring mechanism proposed by Norway to broker peace between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said ``there is no basis for these reports''.

The Colombo-based Sunday Leader newspaper had reported yesterday that India had opposed the inclusion of any major power in the panel as it did not want them involved in the Sri Lankan conflict and set a precedent for ``outside'' interference in south asia.

The denial assumes importance in the light of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's upcoming three-day trip to India starting February 22. Kumaratunga is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee on regional, international and issues of mutual concern.

The Sunday Leader quoting unidentified sources said that India did not want a bigger role for Britain and Japan in South Asia while the LTTE did not want South Asian nations to be included in the truce monitoring panel.

The rebel outfit also objected to the inclusion of any country which was actively funding Sri Lanka's military campaign against the rebels. Japan, Lanka's largest single aid donor, was expected to head the truce monitoring panel and also finance its activities.

``India wants to avoid the setting up of any precedent that may in the future encourage further interference by the West or the East,'' the report said. The Sri Lankan Government was also opposed to a large concentration of European nations because the majority Sinhalese is opposed to them, it said.

Norway, which has been negotiating for peace through its envoy Erik Solheim for nearly two years in Sri Lanka, had arranged a nine-member international panel to monitor a truce before talks could begin.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Government has more reasons than one to be unhappy with Britain's role in the peace process. Britain today failed to ban the LTTE when the new Anti-Terrorist Act came into operation -- the new lawmakes it illegal for anyone in Britain to incite terrorism abroad.

Under the new law, anybody raising funds and openly supporting groups involved in terrorism can be arrested.

The Terrorism Act 2000 allows the Home Secretary to proscribe any organisation. While Britain has banned the Irish Republican Army under the 1973 Prevention of Terrorism Act (which the new law replaces), it has shown marked reluctance to ban foreign rebel groups under the new law by not giving out a list of banned organisations, and has also sought to circumvent the whole issue.

On Thursday, Kumaratunga had called upon Britain to ban the LTTE under the new legislation. However, the LTTE's London representative Anton Balasingham had opposed the call for a ban and threatened dire consequences for the fragile peace process if the outfit were banned.

Several foreign governements, including Sri Lanka and India, had campaigned strongly for the ban on rebel groups operating and raising funds from London against the home country.