The Hindu : India, U.S. concur on Colombo peace process

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 26, 2002

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India, U.S. concur on Colombo peace process

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI SEPT. 25 India and the United States expressed concurring views on the Sri Lankan peace process at a "regional issues dialogue'' between the visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Christina Rocca, and the Joint Secretary (U.S.), Jayant Prasad, today.

Sources said the U.S., like India, had no immediate plans to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Washington was watching whether the Tigers would match their words with deeds. The Indian side mentioned that there were added complications for New Delhi on the issue since the LTTE was behind the killing of a former Prime Minister and responsible for the killing of Indian soldiers.

Ms. Rocca, who also called on the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, had detailed discussions with Mr. Prasad on Bangladesh, Nepal, China and the Middle East as well.

Significantly, India and the U.S. have agreed to a separate set of talks on East Asia, including China, between the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, James Kelly, and the Joint Secretary (East Asia), Nalin Surie, in Washington.

Given the fact that the U.S. had discussions about South Asia with China, the dialogue with India on East Asia is being seen as a major step in the sharing of views. The detailed discussions today reflected a new level of engagement between Washington and New Delhi on an entire range of issues. It dealt with India-Bangladesh bilateral relations as well the Maoist insurgency in Nepal. India and the U.S. decided to institute a dialogue on regional affairs in view of their mutual interest in stability in India's extended neighbourhood, as also in the wider Asia-Pacific region.

``A further opportunity to discuss Asian security will arise when the U.S. Under Secretary of State, Marc Grossman, visits New Delhi next month for the India-U.S. Foreign Office consultations, for which he will be hosted by the Foreign Secretary,'' the sources maintained.

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