Dashing hopes of reviving peace process in Sri Lanka, the LTTE on Thursday rejected outright government's offer of a mutually agreed ceasefire and proposed invitation to talks.
It is a ploy, an act of calculated political duplicity to divert the attention of the people and the world from the deepening crisis in Colombo, LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham told pro-rebel website Tamilnet.Com on Thursday.
Foreign minister Lakhman Kadirgamar had on Wednesday raised hopes of a revival of the deadlocked peace intiative when he said that the government was considering extending an invitation to the LTTE for talks, along with an offer of mutually agreed truce and measures to save civilians from danger and hardship arising from the unending civil war.
The LTTE spokesman saw the government's offer in backdrop of a political crisis in Sri Lanka following the failure of talks with the opposition United National Party (UNP) to forge a national reconciliation government.
Peace talks are not a crisis management exercise to be invoked at the pleasure of a government on the verge of collapse, he said, adding that the LTTE is not naive to jump on a sinking ship.
Bureau Report
