Lanka -- Natwar says Army can intervene

Lanka -- Natwar says Army can intervene
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

CHENNAI, JULY 15: Congress leader and CWC member Natwar Singh today urged India ``to consider seriously and not reject outright'' any request from Sri Lanka, including military intervention, to resolve the ethnic crisis.

``Whether it is military intervention or diplomatic help or Naval intervention, it should depend on what Sri Lanka wants,'' the convenor of the AICC's foreign affairs cell told mediapersons in the city.

Natwar, who was here with AICC secretary Anil Shastri to attend the birth anniversary celebrations of late chief minister Kamaraj, remarked that the hands-off policy of the Indian Government had forced Lanka to turn to countries like Israel and Pakistan for buying arms and ammunitions.

Describing as ``incomprehensible' and ``diluted'' the Government's policy on the Lankan issue, Natwar asserted that it swayed to the dictates of alliance partners like the DMK and MDMK.

He also claimed that it was the Indo-Sri Lankan accord of 1987 -- signed by a Congress government -- that had saved that latter from a division and said the accord so far has not been rejected by any of the countries.

Criticising Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's suggestion of a Czechoslovakian model to resolve the Lankan ethnic crisis, Natwar said his views were against the well-established norms of CMs not commenting on foreign policy. He said the situation in Lanka was vastly different from Czechoslovakia, as here the LTTE was taking on a democratically elected government.

According to Natwar, the BJP Government has no cohesiveness regarding national and international policy. ``There is an intense link between domestic policy and foreign policy and the lack of cohesiveness in domestic policy reflects on the foreign policy.''

On the Jammu and Kashmir autonomy issue, the former foreign affairs minister said: ``The autonomy by itself would not produce any magical results. What the people of Kashmir are asking for is good governance, which is not available to them.''

Stating that the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India was irrevocable, he said the Congress would oppose any attempt to go back to the pre-1953 status. He said there should be a disscussion on the autonomy issue among all political parties and within the 1975 agreement signed between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah.

Natwar also asserted that India must talk to Pakistan's Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf and added that we could not avoid holding discussions because a military dictator is ruling that country. ``Suppose Musharraf rules Pakistan for the next 10 years, what would we do?'' he asked. In this context, Natwar pointed to the talks held by late prime ministers Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri with Ayub Khan and the discussion between Indira Gandhi and Zia-ul-Huq.