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Talks between LTTE and Sri Lanka... and Elements of Diplomacy, 13 October 1994
Chandrika - LTTE Talks: 1994/95
Commencement of Talks between LTTE and Sri Lanka...
and Elements of Diplomacy, 13 October 1994
"The Sri Lanka government delegation led by Prime Minister Chandrika
Kumaratunga's Secretary, Mr.Kumarasiri Balapatabendi arrived in Jaffna on 12 October 1994
for talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The other members of the four member Government delegation were Mr.Lionel Fernando,
one time Jaffna Government Agent, Mr. Navin Gooneratne and Mr.Rajan Asirvatham. None of
them were Sri Lanka Ministers or members of the Sri Lanka Parliament.
The LTTE delegation to the talks was led by Mr. K. Karikalan, Deputy Head of the
Political Section of the Liberation Tigers. The LTTE delegation included Mr.S.Elamparuthy,
Political Organiser, Jaffna District, Mr.A.Ravi, Head of the Department of Economic
Research and Development and Mr.S. Dominique, Head of the Department of Public
Administration.
Mr.Karikalan told a press briefing after the first round of talks that the LTTE would
participate in the talks with an 'open mind'. He said that this was the message of Tamil
Eelam leader, Velupillai Pirabaharan and added that the LTTE was prepared to go on with
the talks even without a ceasefire.
A Reuter report added that officials in Colombo have indicated that the Sri Lanka
government delegation for the second round of talks may not be the same as those who went
for the first round."
and elements of diplomacy...
Sardar K.M.Pannikar, Indian Ambassador to China from1948 to 1952, and later Vice
Chancellor, Mysore University, wrote in Principles and Practice of Diplomacy in 1956:
- ''The public habit of judging the relations between states from what appears in the
papers adds to the confusion. It must be remembered that in international affairs things
are not often what they seem to be. .. A communique which speaks of complete agreement
may only mean an agreement to differ. Behind a smokescreen of hostile propaganda
diplomatic moves may be taking place indicating a better understanding of each other's
position."
- ''Foreign Ministers and diplomats presumably understand the permanent interests of
their country.. But no one can foresee clearly the effects of even very simple facts as
they pertain to the future.
- The Rajah of Cochin who in his resentment against the Zamorin permitted the Portuguese
to establish a trading station in his territories could not foresee that thereby he had
introduced into India something which was to alter the course of history.
- Nor could the German authorities, who, in their anxiety to create confusion and chaos in
Russia, permitted a sealed train to take Lenin and his associates across German territory,
have foreseen what forces they were unleashing. To them the necessity of the moment was an
utter breakdown of Russian resistance and to send Lenin there seemed a superior act of
wisdom...''
- ''Sri Krishna, when he was being requested by Yudhistra to go as a special envoy to the
Court of the Kauravas, was asked by Draupadi what his purpose was in undertaking so
hopeless a mission. He replied, 'I shall go the Kaurava Court to present your case in the
best light; to try and get them to accept your demands, and if my efforts fail and war
becomes inevitable we shall show the world how we are right and they are wrong so that the
world may not misjudge between us.'
- All the secrets of diplomacy are contained in this statement of Sri Krishna... 'If my
persuasion fails', said Krishna, I shall proclaim to the world your innocence and their
crime. I shall make the world understand that you are fighting only for your rights'...
- There are but few cases in history where both the parties to a conflict do not claim to
have been forced into a defensive war.Whether the world accepts such a claim depends
entirely on the success or failure of diplomacy. In the case of the Pandavas, Sri
Krishna's diplomacy was supremely successful even to the extent of causing dissensions
among the Kaurava generals...''
