India will not press for merger of north, east provinces: Jaishankar

India will not be pressing Sri Lanka to merge the Northern and Eastern Provinces to form a single Tamil-majority, Tamil-speaking province as envisaged by the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987, the Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar told the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Monday.

He was reacting to a demand made by the leader of the Eelam Peoples’ Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) Suresh Premachandran, that India should honor its promise to keep the North and East united. 

It had even said that it would not allow a referendum to be held on the issue. When the united province was de-merged in 2006 by a Supreme Court order, India did not protest saying that it was for the Sri Lankan government to appeal against the judgment. India had clearly lost interest in the issue. Its interests lay elsewhere in Sri Lanka.

Jaishankar told Premachandran that much water has flown down the bridge since 1987 and as the situation has changed it will be better for all concerned to make use of the various windows of opportunity which have opened up recently with the change of regime in Colombo and secure the rights of the Tamils.

He argued that it would not be wise to hold every other matter hostage to one issue - the merger of the North and East.

However, he added that India would not mind if the Tamils kept the issue alive and kept it on the table for talks with the Sri Lankan government.  

Premachandran had highlighted the issue of the merger of the North and East partly because it had been the main theme of the Ezhuga Tamil rally held recently in the Eastern town of Batticaloa. Premachandran is a key member of the Tamil Peoples’ Council which organized the rally.

Source: The New Indian Express

-Agencies