The Hindu : Colombo suggestion averted breakdown of talks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 10, 2003

International

International

Colombo suggestion averted breakdown of talks

By V.S. Sambandan

NAKORN PATHOM (Thailand) Jan. 9. In the run-up to the talks between Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) the issue of reducing the latter's military strength had threatened to disrupt the peace process.

The Sri Lanka Army in its proposal had linked the resettlement of internally-displaced persons in the island's northern high security zones with the LTTE's de-militarisation.

A breakdown was averted when the LTTE agreed to a Government suggestion that they await the report of ``an international expert'', but the Tigers did not take part in a crucial sub-committee on de-escalation and normalisation (SDN) headed by the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Austin Fernando, and the LTTE's military commander for two eastern districts, V. Muralitharan (a.k.a. `Col.' Karuna).

The LTTE's chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, strongly refuted a charge that the LTTE's nod to explore a federal option could be a tactical shift:

``It is true that we are sincerely and seriously seeking a substantial political settlement. We have been fighting the ethnic war for the past two decades. We want something substantial and we will demand and fight. We will persuade the Government to offer us a substantial solution.

"There is nothing secret about it. There is no secret agenda. I think this categorisation of a genuine effort on our part in the form of a strategy is totally unfair and unacceptable.''

The LTTE would appoint a ``political affairs committee'' comprising ``senior political cadres'' who would visit Switzerland, Germany, some of the Nordic countries and Canada to ``embark on a study on the models and systems operating in these countries''.

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