Union Minister of State for External Affairs General (retd)
V K Singh said in Raipur on Tuesday that the decision to send the
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka in 1987 was "a high level policy failure".
"The decision to deploy the IPKF in Sri Lanka was a high-level policy
failure," the former Army chief said at an event to discuss his
autobiography titled 'Courage and Conviction' here. "It was a policy
failure that the Government of India and Sri Lanka had entered into an
agreement, while the fight was between Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government. Neither there was control over the
LTTE nor did they owe any responsibility," he said.
"It was a policy failure and it was due to several reasons. You
(Indian Army) went there for peace keeping but got entangled in the
war," he said. The Union Minister claimed that during IPKF operations in
Sri Lanka, Indian forces got several opportunities to nab LTTE supremo
Velupillai Prabhakaran but every time there were "instructions", which ensured him a safe passage.
Singh also claimed that at one point, none other than late Sri Lankan
president Ranasinghe Premadasa had sought to help the LTTE fight the
IPKF. On improving ties between India and Pakistan, Singh said an
initiative has been taken with the neighbouring nation, which has been
asked to ensure a good atmosphere there.
"We have been expressing our concern to them (Pakistan). I believe
that several things are hampering the development of Pakistan. Amidst
all these things, they have to chalk out a solution. We can't impose our
own solution on them. We hope that they will deliberate on those issues
about which we have expressed our concern," he said.
He said that China has settled border issues with all its
neighbouring countries, but not with India. "Trouble erupted since the
day China started calling Arunachal as 'South Tibet'. China has settled
its border disputes with all neighbouring countries, but not with
India. The issue needs to be resolved. However, we can't fix a time
frame for that," he said.
source:DNA
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