Sri Lanka conflict beckons India to help

As Sri Lanka slides back into its long ethnic conflict, and with a Norwegian-brokered peace process stuck in neutral, both the Tamil Tiger separatists and the Sri Lankan government are making overtures to regional power India to get involved – and preferably on their side.

Extending an olive branch on an Indian news channel, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse invited the Tamil Tigers Tuesday for talks to "discuss what they want." He was willing to give the rebels an "outline" for peace, he said.

The Tigers, meanwhile, have been trying to mend fences with Delhi. In late June, a top negotiator for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said that the Tigers "regretted" the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The LTTE has always denied involvement in the killing of Mr. Gandhi, who was instrumental in sending Indian peacekeepers to Sri Lanka in 1987. That expedition proved bloody: More than 5,000 Tamils were killed and India lost 1,200 of its soldiers.

Having burned its fingers badly, India has steered clear of the conflict ever since, even remaining outside the peace process begun in 2002. But as that effort sputters, and India's diplomatic credibility has risen following its efforts in Nepal, many regional observers argue it is time for India to bury its version of "Vietnam Syndrome" and take a more active role in preserving regional peace and stability in South Asia.

"Given India's dominance in the region, India's intervention could make a world of difference," says Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, the director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo.

A successful intervention would not necessarily mean using the military, he says. Rather, India could use its prominent stature in South Asia, he says, to put diplomatic pressure to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.

Such an effort is made easier by the Sri Lankan government's apparent eagerness for help. On visits to Delhi by President Rajapakse late last year and the Sri Lankan foreign minister in early May, both men aimed to persuade their "closest neighbor" to get involved in the peace process. Their overtures, however, received a tepid response from Indian officials.

"India should ensure equal rights of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, as they still do not have access to justice and equality. The Sri Lankan government has successfully swept the rights of the Tamils under the carpet of LTTE brutality," says Suhas Chakma, the director of the Asian Centre for Human Rights in New Delhi. "Also, India should [use its clout in the region to] advocate strict enforcement of the cease-fire agreements."

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