40 years ago, February 28, 1986: Proposal for Sri Lanka crisis

The Sri Lankan government has come forward with a “new paper” (set of proposals) to find a solution to the ethnic problem, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi told the Lok Sabha. Gandhi expressed the hope that this would be “a move forward”. The PM was replying to a three-day debate on the motion of thanks to the President for his address to the joint session of Parliament. “We are in touch with the Sri Lankan government,” he said. ## Last-minute plea by MPs Congress (I) MPs who have been overwhelmingly opposing the Muslim Women’s Bill are now set to make a last-minute plea to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, to leave the controversial Bill to the joint select panel. Over 100 MPs, mostly from the vast Hindi region, have made this suggestion during their meetings with the Law Minister, A K Sen, the Home Minister, S B Chavan, and the Parliamentary Minister, H K L Bhagat. ## Kashmiris march in protest Hundreds of members of the Kashmiri community in New Delhi took out a silent march to protest the large-scale violence against the minority community in the Kashmir Valley. While some had their faces covered with black handkerchiefs and wore black badges, others carried placards calling for an “end to genocide”. A large number of women and children also participated in the march to Boat Club from Jantar Mantar organised by the Delhi Kashmiri Samiti. ## Pak may gain from US strategy US President Ronald Reagan has outlined a four-point strategy that Washington would follow as part of its defence build-up aimed at bringing America to a “position of strength in order to negotiate with the Soviets”. Reagan pointed out that his administration had raised the flow of military aid to Islamabad to combat the “Soviet threat” from across the Afghan border. Reagan’s reference to Pakistan was seen by South Asian experts in Washington as indicating the possibility of greater military assistance to Islamabad.