Sri Lankan PM Rejects Tamil Rebel Demand for Homeland

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, April 28, 2002

Sri Lankan PM Rejects Tamil Rebel Demand for Homeland

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Sr Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has once again rejected demand by separatist Tamil Tiger rebels for a separate homeland for the country's minority Tamils, The Island newspaper said on Sunday.

"Our whole endeavor is to live in a country where peace prevails by sharing power without dividing the country. This island is everybody's motherland and the 25,000 square miles of the land is everybody's 'Nijabinma' (motherland)," Wickremesinghe said when he met with Buddhist prelates in central Kandy city on Saturday.

During his meeting with the Buddhist prelates who are strongly opposed to the separate homeland demand by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, Wickremesinghe explained to them thedevelopments of the peace process following the signing of an indefinite ceasefire agreement with the rebels on February 22.

He said that the ceasefire with the LTTE is only a basic move towards the negotiation table and the country benefited from the arrangement during the past two or three months to a large extent as there have been no deaths and loss of property.

The prime minister has perviously noted that any issues short of a separate Tamil homeland could be discussed with the LTTE rebels during the forthcoming peace talks which are expected to take place in Thailand in June.

The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces since 1983 for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east of the country. More than 64,000 people have been killed in the bloody ethnic war.

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