Sri Lanka's main Tamil political party on Thursday asked the government to remove the ban on the LTTE immediately to facilitate early talks with the rebels. The appeal by the Tamil United Liberation Front comes in the wake of a warning by a newspaper close to the LTTE that the negotiation process, proposed to begin next month in Thailand, may not take place in the near future if the government delayed de-proscribing the group.

The LTTE has made it clear that it will not come for talks unless the ban is lifted. This is a very reasonable request, as it is going to speak on behalf of the Tamils as their sole representative, TULF president M Sivasithamparam said in a statement in Colombo.

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London-based 'Tamil Guardian' newspaper accused Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of dithering on the LTTE's key demand to be legally rehabilitated by removal of the four-year ban on it in Sri Lanka.

Further, it said there was a new stridency in the military's attitude towards their 10-week-old cease-fire as restrictions on civilian movements, aerial surveillance and armed encounters at sea had taken place in recent days. The LTTE had also noted that political opposition to peace initiatives seemed to retard the peace process. Peace proponents also agree with the view that the tussle between the government and President Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance remains a major impediment to peace.

The inability or unwillingness of the government to get the opposition on board the peace process is a major contributor to the rise in anti-peace propaganda, said the National Peace Council.
Bureau Report