NEW DELHI, April 29: Now that Sri Lanka’s nearly-three-decades-long civil war is nearly over with the crushing of the separatist Tamil rebels, India is hoping that a triumphant President Mahinda Rajapaksa will quickly get down to the Next Big Task before him and his country.

As India sees it, Rajapaksa’s and Sri Lanka’s Next Big Task comprises: providing immediate relief to the hapless and innocent Tamils who escaped or rescued from the clutches of the LTTE; their rehabilitation (preferably sending them to their own homes and helping them to settle down); and build a consensus and implement constitutional steps to bring about a grand Reconciliation between the majority Sinhala and minority Tamil communities so that they can get down to working together to rebuild their beautiful country that was ravaged by Asia’s longest bloody and brutal civil war.

India, which has consciously maintained a low profile as far as Sri Lanka is concerned, believes that the Tamils in the island need a political system in which they can feel comfortable.

As India sees it, holding a quick election in the Northern Province may not be such a great idea for the simple reason that it has not worked in the Eastern Province, where there is an obvious power tussle between Vinayagamurthy Muralidharan aka Karuna Amman and Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan.

The government should show political will to devolve meaningful powers to the Tamil population.

Policy-makers here are gratified by the assurance that Rajapaksa gave in recent weeks to his Indian interlocutors, including External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, that he wants to move as quickly as possible to implement the Sri Lankan Constitution’s 13th Amendment Plus.

This could include moving some items from the concurrent to the provincial list, and the setting up of a second chamber of federal representatives.

A top source, who has been actively involved in New Delhi’s on-going dialogue with Colombo, admits: "There must be an attempt after a quarter century of wars, but the path won’t be easy. There has been Sinhala chauvinism and an alteration in civil-military relations. Things won’t suddenly flip back to normal."

In the meanwhile, India will soon be sending 50,000 additional family packs as part of the $20-million grant announced on Monday. These are in addition to the 40,000 family packets already sent.

Each of these packets lasts for three weeks, and comprises enough food items, shelter, and medicines for a nuclear family.

India already has a de-mining team in place. In view of the fact that the area of the just-concluded armed conflict is heavily mined, more personnel will be sent.

India is also in the process of shifting its temporary hospital from the coast to inland. The capacity of the 100-bed hospital with a team of 62 doctors will also be expanded. OVER