Us Not Keen On Mediation In Lanka Crisis

US undersecretary of state Tom Pickering yesterday said that the US did not want to join the "race of mediators " to resolve the Sri Lanka problem.

Pickering said US is happy to support the Norwegian efforts to defuse the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka. He added that the US recognised India's role in the

region.

This appeared to be an effort to set at rest India's suspicions that Norway on an Anglo Saxon plot to undermine India's role in the subcontinent. Foreign minister Jaswant Singh was uncharacteristically dismissive of the Norwegian peace initiative ten days ago when he told the Parliament that India `had been informed about the Norwegian initiative and believed it was unworkable.'

 

Pickering's statement signalled a continuity in US policy of leaving south Asian problems for India to resolve. In 1987, just before signing the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, in an interview President JR Jayewardene had stated on the record that when he had sought help from the US in resolving the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka, the Americans advised him to go to India. "I had no choice" President Jayewardene had said.

When asked if supporting Norway's inititiative meant that the US would reconsider lifting the ban on LTTE as a terrorist organisation, Pickering said the ban was imposed for legal reasons. It was not subject to political negotiation. Until the LTTE renounced its policy of carrying out assassinations, it would continue to remain banned in the US.

Pickering also said that reports of Pakistan's second nuclear test - "whether true or not" - were "disturbing" the United States and he would take this up with Pakistani authorities during his trip today.