Indian official visits Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 1999, 14:50 GMT]
The Deputy High Commissioner for India in Colombo, Mr.S.Thripathi, was in Trincomalee since Tuesday, meeting several leading citizens and delegations of Tamil political parties, sources said.

Tamil sources said that the Deputy High Commissioner's visit was to obtain first-hand knowledge of the situation in Trincomalee through dialogue with leading citizens, north-east provincial council officials and local representatives of the Tamil political groups.

A delegation of the Eelam Peoples' Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) led by Ratnam Thilagarajah, District Organiser of EPRLF, met Mr.Tripathi at Seven Islands' Hotel in Trincomalee on Tuesday.

A spokesman of the EPRLF delegation told the TamilNet that they had stressed the urgent need of a third party mediation to bring a settlement between the two warring parties in the island. At the same time, the EPRLF had wanted India to play a vital role in bringing the present war to an end.

The EPRLF delegation also pointed out to the Deputy High Commissioner that the Tamil speaking people in the country have lost confidence in the two main political parties, the SLFP and the UNP, as they are utilising the ethnic issue for political gains.