Colombo, Nov 07: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga is sabotaging the island's peace process by triggering a political crisis just after the Tamil Tigers unveiled a power-sharing plan, a top rebel said today. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which entered into a Norwegian-brokered truce with the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, said Kumaratunga's action had risked the peace initiative.
"Like smashing the pot when the milk in it is churning into butter, the Sri Lankan President has sabotaged the peace process at a crucial time," said a top Tiger leader known by his nom de guerre Karuna.
"There is nothing for us to get shocked about if you consider our experience in the past (with politicians of the majority Sinhalese community)," he said in comments published on the pro-rebel tamilnet.com website.
"This is how in the past they scuttled the peace processes despite the concessions and compromises we made during talks with the Sri Lankan government."
Four peace bids since 1985 have ended in failure, leading to more bloodshed in a country where more than 60,000 people have been killed in a bitter ethnic separatist campaign led by the Tigers since 1972.
Kumaratunga rejected a Tiger blueprint for a political settlement unveiled November 1 before she sacked three ministers in Wickremesinghe's government on Tuesday.
The President also suspended parliament and declared a state of emergency but under intense international diplomatic pressure withdrew the draconian measures.
"No one in the world expected her to behave like this at this juncture," said Karuna, who is a key member of the LTTE peace negotiating team. Bureau Report