Colombo: Sri Lanka will send a senior minister to New Delhi next week to urge India to participate in a fund-raising conference in Oslo for development of the island's North-East, amidst reports that India is averse to attending a forum at which the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is a participant.

Economic Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda, one of the government's negotiators at ongoing peace talks with the rebels, would meet Indian leaders and ask for India's participation at the Oslo aid meet due to take place on November 25, the 'Sunday Times' reported on November 17.

The main Opposition party, President Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA), had two days ago hailed India's decision not to go to a conference at which the LTTE was being introduced to the global stage on a level of parity with the government of Sri Lanka.

India is yet to make its position clear, although a media report said that it had decided not to attend the Oslo conference, as it would amount to conferring legitimacy on the LTTE.

The US and Britain, among other countries, are sending senior representatives to the conference and are expected to announce aid packages for rebuilding the North and East.

The PA has indirectly criticised the two western powers for their enthusiasm in sharing a platform in Oslo with LTTE negotiator Anton Balasingham, who will be making the appeal for aid jointly with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Tamil Tigers are listed as a terrorist organisation in both the US and Britain, but US Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage and Britian's Minister for Overseas Development Clare Short are among the leading names listed to participate in the Oslo conclave.

PTI