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Sri Lankan Govt Rejects Tiger Rebels' Peace Offer
The Sri Lankan government Tuesday rejected an offer for peace talks made by separatist Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran late last month, saying the government and its armed forces shall continue to defend the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In a Presidential Secretariat statement, the government has categorically rejected the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels' claim of sovereignty over the Jaffna peninsula, cultural capital of the minority Tamils.
The territorial integrity of the island country is not and cannot be put in question nor is it a negotiable issue, the statement said.
This is the first time that the government has given a formal response to the peace offer by rebel leader Prabhakaran since he said he was ready to hold unconditional peace talks with the government in a speech on November 27, the day when the LTTE rebels observed the so-called Heroes' Day for those killed by government forces.
The government has seen the "conditions of normalcy" and "a process of de-escalation of war leading to cessation of armed hostilities" required by Prabhakaran as preconditions for the possible peace talks.
The government demanded that the LTTE rebels agree to include in the agenda of the peace talks some key issues such as a cease-fire, the cessation of all terrorist activities and the resolution of the minority Tamils problem through political negotiation.
The de-escalation of war could be considered only as the talks progress toward a definitive stage in resolving the conflict, the statement said.
The government also accused the LTTE of constantly disrupting the supply of goods and services to the people in the north and east of the country where the LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces for a separate Tamil homeland since 1983.
Meanwhile, the government urged the LTTE rebels not to evade crucial political issues and move beyond rhetoric to the discussion of concrete political issues within a definite time- frame with a clear political outcome in view.
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