Colombo, Aug 17: The LTTE wants the next month's talks with the Sri Lankan government in Thailand to address first the day-to-day problems of the Tamils, rebel sources said. They said the tigers were not averse to political negotiations aimed at resolving the ethnic problem, if the government wanted such core issues to be taken up simultaneously.
Problems faced by displaced Tamils in returning to their homes, the continued detention of Tamils under anti-terrorism laws, the emergence of new high security zones and modalities for an interim administration for the North-East would form the focus of preliminary talks, Colombo-based Tamil daily 'Sudar Oli' today quoted London-based LTTE sources as saying.
"We will shatter the campaign by president Chandrika Kumaratunga that we are averse to taking up substantive issues. We will raise our people's problems first, but we are also ready to discuss core matters simultaneously," they said.
Formal talks between the government and the LTTE – their first direct parleys since the last negotiation collapsed in 1995 - are set to begin between September 12 and 17 somewhere in Thailand. Bureau Report