'Talks' denied

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, AUG. 15. The LTTE today denied that it held ``talks'' with a Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister, and said the cadres he met were security guards whose position and role the Minister had misunderstood.

The LTTE spokesman, Mr. Anton Balasingham, is quoted on the TamilNet website as saying that the Minister, whose Government was facing a political crisis, had ``falsely'' raised hopes of peace talks with the LTTE with his ``peculiar claim.''

The Minister of Aviation and Christian Affairs, Mr. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, said on Tuesday night that he had met local leaders of the LTTE while on a pilgrimage to a Catholic shrine in Madhu in northern Sri Lanka.

They had escorted him on the pilgrimage to the shrine, which is in LTTE-controlled territory, and told him that the group was not for a separate State, but only wanted equal rights for Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Minister said.

``Mr. Fernandopulle only met our border guards who provided security for the Minister who had entered territory under our control for the purposes of pilgrimage to the Madhu shrine. (He) appears to have misunderstood the role and capacity of the cadres whom he met during the crossing,'' Mr. Balasingham is quoted as saying.

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Section  : International
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