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Rajapaksa to meet Pope

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa is scheduled to visit the Vatican on Wednesday to meet Pope Benedict XVI on an invitation by the Papal Nuncio in Sri Lanka, Archbishop Mario Zenari.

The visit assumes importance in view of the security environment here and the Government's efforts to weaken the Tigers militarily and win the "hearts and minds" of the people in the north and east.

Political and diplomatic observers here believe that the visit has at least three objectives: to win the support of the minorities, send a message of goodwill to the influential Bishops, project himself as a moderate and galvanise international support in the fight against the Tigers.

The visit comes just days after the Pope, in his Easter message, called on the Government and the LTTE to stop violence and resume talks. He called on the warring parties to return to negotiations to end violence. The military said the Tigers were following a "strategy of ruthlessness" against humanity, targeting civilians at will in the tense north and east zones.

It said 44 civilians were killed and over 51 seriously injured in the LTTE's latest escalation of violence.

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