CONFIDENTIAL
38.
Another facet of Indian thinking which came out strongly was the suspicion of Pakistan, newly fanned by the American undertaking to supply the latter with F16 aircraft. I suggested on one occasion that Pakistan was smaller and weaker and could not possibly represent a threat to India; my interlocutor agreed but said that the US arms deal was a source of instability by introducing one of the super- powers further into the sub-continent's affairs.
Sri Lanka
39. As elsewhere, new buildings are sprouting up in Colombo, including a large new administrative parliamentary centre to be called Jayawardenepura, which is not only a graceful tribute to the President but also conforms to the Sri Lankan tradition for long
names. More perhaps than most other Asian countries, Sri Lanka looks prosperous and fertile,to judge by the capital itself and the countryside between it and Kandy. It is doubly sad, therefore, given such a back-cloth, that the island's political life, while still amongst the most democratic in Asia, is riven by bitter quarrelling and strife.
40.
Clearly the most intractable problem is the plight of the Tamils. Some observers feel that the position should not be over- stated but, according to Mr Amirthalingam, leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), who talked to me about the recent atrocities committed against the Tamils, the formation of a separate Tamil state cannot be ruled out. In his view, such a state, although small and confined to the North-East corner of the island, would be
a viable económic proposition with a hard-working population, industrial plants producing cement and petrochemicals and at least the possibility of off-shore oil. It is only fair to add that
be
Mr Panditheratna, a leading member of the UNP, could not see how a separate Tamil state could survive. The Tamils themselves,
declared, did not want it since they preferred to enjoy the wider opportunities offered by Sri Lanka as a whole. Tamil graduates (some 900 per year) would not be able to find jobs in the North.
41.
The second talking point while I was there was the internecine quarrelling in the opposition Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
The
CONFIDENTIAL
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