***The LTTE should feel assured if Sri Lanka's constitution is amended to transfer all subjects to the Jaffna state except defence, foreign affairs and communications. This is what our Article 370 spells out for Jammu and Kashmir. We have failed because we have not implemented the article either in letter or in spirit.

I did not know Chandrika Kumaratunga. Sri Lanka a new prime minister, when she was in Delhi a* a guest lecturer at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. But I met her subsequently, less than two years ago. at a small party at the residence of former foreign minister Inder Gujral. Overbeaming with confidence she was all set to Join politics or to rejuvenate it. as she put it.

Sri Lanka was at that time a sad spectacle of domestic violence. political disharmony and people's disenchantment. Chandrika had also to reckon with her brother. Anura Bandaranaika. already an MP While she was at the University of Sorbonne, the InsUtute of Commonwealth Studies and other places, he had taken a lead tn the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). still under the control of her infirm mother, Srimavo Bandaranaika

Although Chandrika exuded courage, yet none of us expected that she would retrieve not only the party but also make the prime ministership In two years' time. Of Course, her star shone brightly on th! firmament of Sri. Lanka only after the exit’ of Anura Bandaranaika from the SLFP to become a minister in the last government of United National Party (UNP). The retirement of her mother in her favour also made her the only viable leader in the SLFP. But her own image of being young, untrained. untarnished politician tallied with the mood of people. who wanted a change from the government that had given them a sterile rule of 19 long years.

While in Delhi, she talked mostly on the LTTE threat. Since none of us was an apologist for Indira Gandhi s policy — training, arming and sheltering the Tigers' — all of

us were on her side She was. however, keen to know how much leeway India still had with the LTTE. By then Rajiv Gandhi s assassination had snapped even tenuous rela tions some in Tamil Nadu had continued to nurture with tne LTTE Still, shq probed the subject at length as if she was trying to assess whether India could be of some use if ever the opportunity for a settlement came her way.

Therefore her priority to have talks with the LTTE does not come as a surprise That she can go to the extent of meeting V Prabhakaran. the LTTE chief. Indicates that she Is willing to take risks in handling the nettle. She knows that the proposal can land her In trouble.

One. the army, which has been fighting the Tamil Insur gency for more than a decade, losing some of its top brass, may not be too enthusiastic till the Tigers put the guns down. Two. the seven votes of the Sri Lanka Muslim Party give the People's Alliance (PA) of Chandrika a whlsker-thfn-ma-Jority of 113 in the 225-mem-ber parliament. The Muslims have been a target of LTTE's violence in the eastern province, where Muslims. Tamils and Sinhalese are 33 per cent each. M Ashraff, who heads the Muslim group, is opposed to linkage of eastern province with the north, the Jaffna, where the Tamils are in a preponderant majority. His response to rapprochement with the LTTE is cool.

Yet by trying to woo theTamils. Chandrika is making up for the wrong done to them. In a way. she is recompensing the chauvinism that SLFP had Injected into the body politic of Srl Lanka when It had given the call for 'Sinhala only' and had swept the polls in 1956. That very year the 'Sinhala only policy was enacted into a law. From then onward the polarisation on racial and ethnic lines began in a big way

The Tamils, who have occupied key positions in and

outside the government, have felt growing discrimination In employment and education since. Even some of their land has been colonised. There came a time — popularly known as the EC pact — when the federal form of government with parity of Tamil lan guage with Sinhala as the official language looked like set Hing the problem. But the pact could not be Implemented be cause of stiff opposition from the Sinhalese.

Now the distance between Sjqhel^e. who constitute 76 per cent pf Sri Lanka's popula tion, and the Tamils. 13 per cent, who predominate the north, both geographically and emotionally, seems to be unbridgeable. The Tamils have gone to the extent of demanding separation from the country for establishing an independent state of their own. Eelam.

The LTTEs initial response to Chandrika's offer for talks is positive: it favours further probing. But this is the time when the LTTE must reconsider Its goal. No prime minister can be party to his or her country's disintegration. It is not an emotional response: it is practical politics. The Tamils are correct In demanding the best of safeguards for preserving their entity, culture and language But the secession of Sri Lanka cannot be on the agenda, however liberal and keen Chandrika is.

The LTTE should feel assured If Sri Lanka's constitution Is amended to transfer all subjects to the Jaffna state except defence, foreign affairs and communications. This Is what our Article 370 spells out for Jammu and Kashmir. We have failed because we have not' implemented the article either In letter or in spirit. We have been extending central laws to ' the state’s fields through the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, which did not pose us any problem because we could rig the elections and nominate the chief ministers of our like.

The LTTE can learn from our misdoings. It can ask formore constitutional guarantees There can be for example a standing commission of top judges to attend immediately to the state s complaint against the centre transcending the constitutional limits. I do not think that the question of rigging elections In Jaffna arises because the people are tautly conscious of their rights as the Kashmiris are today

As for India. It has said more than once that It seeks the solution of Tami) problem "within the framework of the unity and territorial integrity of Srl Lanka ' But since we are responsible for the LTTE, we must use all lever, of power to ensure that it accepts autonomy within the country. Military assistance rendered in the shape of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (1PKF) during former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's rule was a disaster in the sense that the LTTE got the better of us Had IPKF de feated the Tigers, even if it could not eliminate them. New Delhi's credibility would have been higher and Colombo s problems fewer

At least we should see that the LTTE does not get any succour from the Indian soil. The fact is that the things of daily use — vegetables, fruits, poultry and even drinking water — go to Jaffna from our southern coast. (Some arms are also making their way but the LTTE has alternative sources like Singapore and Bangkok)

With Jayalalltha as the Tamil Nadu chief minister, who Is dead set against the

LTTE it should be possible for both the state and central gov ernments to plug the avenues used for carrying goods to Jaffna M Karunanidhi. the TaaiH Nadu opposition leader, is also categorical on this mat ter When I met him in Madras last, he spared no words In condemning the LTTE This should make JayalalKha s task easier.

Chandrika has rightly said that she does not suffer from anti-India phobia. In fact, must be said to the credit of Lanka that it has never indulged In India bashing, as some of our neighbouring countries do But there are influential people In Lankan poll tics, government and the press, who conUnue to do their besl to spoil relations between Colombo and New Delhi. The UNP used to encourage them Even former president Jayawardene when in power, behaved more like a Sinhalese chauvinist than a seasoned politician who Ivas expected to rise above parochial sentiments

After Chandrika s advent to power. Jayawardene has said that Ipdia should continue to keep her hands off His accusation that It had already sullied its hands Is not misplaced. But as he has himself said. New Delhi has lately adopted the right approach Indias record since it withdrew the IPKF has been fairly clean. Unfortunately, some of our high commissioners have behaved like viceroys and given India a bad name Mercifully, they have retired from service.

Chandrika does not have to bother about New Delhi's postures. It has burnt Its fingers. But unabated armed confrontation in the north can arouse sympathy for Tamils in Tamil Nadu and beyond. Her move for settlement Is welcome.