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Sri Lankan Tiger Rebels Blame Govt for Ban on Them
Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels blamed on Monday the government for rejecting its call for lifting the ban on the organization to facilitate Norwegian- brokered peace talks between the two sides.
"If the government adopts a hard-line position and refuses to review its decision on proscription, then it should bear full responsibility for the collapse of the peace efforts and the serious consequences that might arise from its decision," the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said in a statement issued from its headquarters in Wanni in the north of the country.
The government's decision has seriously jeopardized the prospects of peace talks and negotiated political settlement, the LTTE statement said.
The LTTE statement came two days after the government categorically rejected on Saturday the rebel demand of lifting ban on the organization.
"The LTTE's demand for the removal of the proscription prior to the commencement of negotiations is unreasonable and is intended to delay and, if possible, prevent the commencement of the negotiation process," the government said in a statement.
The government said the lifting or the suspension of the proscription, imposed in January 1998 after the rebel bombing of the holiest Buddhist temple in the central city of Kandy, will not be done as a pre-requisite or a pre-condition for talks.
The LTTE said they are not imposing an preconditions for peace talks and what they suggest are acceptable practical proposals of goodwill measures to create a better and stable environment conducive for peace negotiations.
However, the government also said it was committed to a negotiated settlement to the country's 18-year ethnic conflict, but was rejecting the LTTE's goal of a separate state called Eelam.
Besides the lifting of ban on LTTE, the rebels also want a formal ceasefire from the government and removal of economic embargo on areas controlled by them.
Solheim, who failed to reach agreement with the two sides on possible peace talks during his visit here earlier this month, has confirmed that the two sides were close to agreeing on issues related to halt in military operations and measures to alleviate the living conditions for the civilian population, but agreement has not yet been reached on certain matters related to commencement of the peace talks.
The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces in the north and east of the country since 1983 for an independent Tamil homeland. The bloody war has killed more than 60,000 people.
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