Colombo, Nov 02: Four Sri Lankan ministers opened direct talks with a Tamil Tiger leader in northern Sri Lanka today, a day after the guerrillas publicly unveiled their land-mark power-sharing plan, officials said. The four ministers held discussions with S Pulithevan, the head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) peace secretariat, in the northern town of Vavuniya, government officials said.
"They discussed matters arising from the peace process," an official said, but declined to give details.
Trade Minister Ravi Karunanayake, Lands Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Agricultural Minister S. B. Dissanayake and Rural Economy Minister Bandula Gunawardena had three hours of talks with Pulithevan, officials said.
The four ministers are not directly involved in the peace process, but the closed-door talks came a day after the LTTE unveiled their first ever blueprint for a power-sharing plan with the Colombo government.
Both sides have asked peace broker Norway to arrange formal face-to-face talks to negotiate the LTTE's latest proposals which seek to establish a de facto federal structure for embattled regions.
The Tigers are asking for control over natural resources, including access to all marine and off-shore resources and control over the sea to a proposed interim self-governing authority (ISGA). Bureau Report