So the LTTE is in a bad spot now and wants the Indian govt to step back into the conflict in Sri Lanka. And just as in Kashmir, the people are stuck in the middle of this terrorism from all sides, and I doubt any new IPKF will do better than the previous one. A weakened LTTE, in the absence of all other Tamil representation which they so meticulously eliminated, will be only more encouragement for the Sri Lankan government.

I can remember the headier days of the LTTE, when Prabhakaran and his entourage lived in upscale houses in the street adjacent to my own, and the occasional bloody streetfights in Pandi Bazaar or elsewhere (not to forget the bomb threat we received by postcard, one fine day!)… and wondering how this would all end 20 years later. And it is now 20 years later, and it seems to be much the same.

FT.com – Sri Lanka rebels express regret over slaying of Rajiv Gandhi
By Jo Johnson in New Delhi

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas last night expressed "deep regret" over the assassination in 1991 of Rajiv Gandhi, then Indian prime min-ister, and called for a "new relationship" with India in which New Delhi would play an active role in resolving the island's ethnic conflict.

The unprecedented statement, made in a televised interview by Anton Balasingham, the Tamil Tigers' chief negotiator, reflects the separatist group's increasing isolation following the European Union's decision last month to follow India, the UK and the US in putting it on a list of banned organisations.

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