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Lanka government should see that there is no return to war
Colombo, Nov 26: Sri Lanka`s Tamil Tiger rebels have told visiting EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten that they were committed to peace but the onus of maintaining the current ceasefire rests on the island`s government.
Colombo, Nov 26: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels
have told visiting EU External Relations Commissioner Chris
Patten that they were committed to peace but the onus of
maintaining the current ceasefire rests on the island's
government.
"Our leader Velupillai Prabhakaran told Patten it is
not at all in the hands of the Liberation Tigers to ensure
that there is no return to violence," Tiger political wing
leader S P Thamilselvan said.
"It is completely up to the Sinhala polity to see there is no return to war," he told reporters in the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi shortly after Patten's talks with Prabhakaran who marked his 49th birthday today.
Thamilselvan was quoted in the pro-rebel Tamilnet.Com website as saying that Prabhakaran made it clear to Patten that they remained committed to resolving the conflict peacefully.
Patten brushed aside protests in the capital to go ahead with his meeting with Prabhakaran.
His three-day visit here began yesterday with a noisy protest by the Sinhalese hard-line Patriotic National Movement (PNM) which draws support from key members of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party.
Patten had talks with President Kumaratunga yesterday and later told reporters that no leader he met that day objected to his travelling to the island's north for talks with Prabhakaran.
Patten said he would be seeking assurances from Prabhakaran that he was committed to implementing the ceasefire brokered and put into operation since February last year by Norway.
Bureau Report
"It is completely up to the Sinhala polity to see there is no return to war," he told reporters in the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi shortly after Patten's talks with Prabhakaran who marked his 49th birthday today.
Thamilselvan was quoted in the pro-rebel Tamilnet.Com website as saying that Prabhakaran made it clear to Patten that they remained committed to resolving the conflict peacefully.
Patten brushed aside protests in the capital to go ahead with his meeting with Prabhakaran.
His three-day visit here began yesterday with a noisy protest by the Sinhalese hard-line Patriotic National Movement (PNM) which draws support from key members of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party.
Patten had talks with President Kumaratunga yesterday and later told reporters that no leader he met that day objected to his travelling to the island's north for talks with Prabhakaran.
Patten said he would be seeking assurances from Prabhakaran that he was committed to implementing the ceasefire brokered and put into operation since February last year by Norway.
Bureau Report