The Hindu : LTTE wants details of 'interim council'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 21, 2003

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International

LTTE wants details of 'interim council'

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO June 20. Turning down Thursday's call by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to discuss an interim administrative mechanism, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam today wanted Colombo to spell out the details of the proposed structure to resume negotiations and said it would insist on a ``radical overhaul'' of the peace process with a ``new, redefined agenda''.

Reacting to Thursday's speech by Mr. Wickremesinghe, the LTTE has asked the Government to spell out the details of the proposed structure before it could resume talks, a report in the TamilNet said.

The Prime Minister ``has only repeated the statement he made at the Tokyo donor conference. This statement of intent, as we have already stated, cannot be a basis for negotiations,'' the LTTE's chief negotiator, Anton S. Balasingham was quoted as saying.

Colombo and the Tigers have serious differences over the manner in which an interim administrative mechanism should be formed. While the LTTE wants a politico-administrative structure outside the unitary constitution, all that the Wickremesinghe administration can offer is a development-oriented structure within the statute. The bitter political co-habitation struggle between the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mr. Wickremesinghe makes any move away from the status quo difficult.

Mr. Balasingham said: ``operating within the confines of an entrenched constitution and facing a hostile President,'' the Prime Minister ``is resistant to offer anything substantial in the form of an interim administration'' and hence had called upon the LTTE ``to come up with a practical solution to draw up a mechanism''.

Sticking to the LTTE's position that any offer would have to come from Colombo, Mr. Balasingham said: ``It is not prudent on the part of the LTTE to present a structure or a mechanism for an interim administrative set-up without any idea of the scope and extent to which the government could offer politico- administrative powers to the LTTE''. Mr. Balasingham also ``rejected the guidelines set out in the Tokyo Declarations as partial and unacceptable and, therefore, could not be the basis for future talks'', the report said.

``We will insist on a radical overhaul of the entire peace process. We want a new, redefined agenda. We will discuss this matter with the Norwegian facilitators,'' the TamilNet quoted Mr. Balasingham as saying.

PA open for talks with LTTE

Meanwhile, the main Opposition, the People's Alliance, led by Ms. Kumaratunga, said it was open to the idea of talking with the Tigers, but refused to spell out if it would be conditional or not.

Categorically denying recent news reports here that a member of the LTTE had met its MPs, the spokesman, Sarath Amunugama, told a press conference: ``as a democratic party any citizen of this country has every right to talk to us''. The denial came in the wake of reports that the head of the LTTE's peace secretariat, Pulidevan, had recently met some PA MPs in Colombo. ``When and if we do start talking to the LTTE we will let the country be informed,'' Dr. Amunugama said.

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