The LTTE has accused Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga of seeking to sabotage its truce agreement with the government by what it called her irresponsible and ill-advised opposition to it. The central arguments advanced by Kumaratunga against the terms of the cease-fire were based on pathological hatred rather than any discrepancies in the document's logical structure, LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham told tamilnet.com website from London. The President and her foreign policy advisor Lakshman Kadirgamar were conspiring to sabotage a historic agreement brokered by Norwegian facilitators and hailed by the international community, the LTTE chief negotiator said.
In an 11-page letter to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe two days ago, Kumaratunga had raised serious concerns about the possible infringement of Sri Lanka's sovereignty by some clauses in the truce agreement signed by Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader V Prabhakaran last month.
She had questioned the role assigned to Norway as the sole arbiter of contentious issues arising in the course of monitoring the cease-fire and sought amendments to prevent Oslo's role being elevated from the status of facilitator of talks to that of mediator and arbitrator over disputes. Kumaratunga also criticised the introduction of the potentially explosive concept of lines of control within Sri Lankan territory.
However, Balasingham, in remarks posted on the website last night, rejected her argument that certain articles in the truce agreement compromised the island's sovereignty as untenable and fallacious.
The use of concepts like demarcation lines and areas controlled by the parties reflected the actuality of the ground situation and had been formulated with the consent of the parties after careful scrutiny, he said. Bureau Report