Losing faith in current peace effort, says LTTE

Colombo, Mar 14: Sri Lanka's rebel Tamil Tigers have said they are losing faith in the current peace efforts and warned the Geneva peace talks, scheduled to be held in mid-April, could be in 'grave danger' if the Sri Lanka government refuses to disarm Tamil paramilitary organisations.

LTTE's London-based chief negotiator and political strategist, Anton Balasingham, in an interview with Tamilnet website said, ''Involvement of armed forces in the operations of Tamil paramilitaries constitutes a serious breach of the spirit of the Geneva talks which were held last month.''

The LTTE had agreed to stop all forms of attacks against the government security forces while the government vowed to control all armed groups during the two-day meeting last month. The parties also agreed to meet again for the second round of talks in Geneva from April 19 to 22.

''The LTTE leadership will be compelled to review its decision to participate in the next round of talks, to be held in Geneva on April 19 if Colombo fails to fulfill the pledges agreed in the joint statement issued after the first session of talks,'' Balasingham said, adding President Mahinda Rajapakse's government is turning a blind eye to the activities of the Tamil paramilitaries.

The LTTE's reaction has come at a time when the government is making preparations to attend the second round of talks with the rebel group in Geneva next month to salvage the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Rajapakse held an all-party meeting earlier this month to discuss the peace plan.

UNI