Colombo, June 05: Sri Lanka's troubled peace process
came under renewed strain today, as the LTTE accused Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of reneging on promises to lift
the ban on it without conditions and focus on an interim
solution at proposed talks in Thailand.
In a fresh attack in a London-based newspaper against the
Prime Minister, LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham charged that
he had succumbed to President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Hardline
approach by linking removal of the ban with the Tigers
agreeing to a firm date for talks.
“ He had also shifted his position on the proposal to set
up an interim administration for the Tamil-majority north-east
by insisting on the inclusion of core political issues in the
Thailand talks,” Balasingham told the weekly newspaper Tamil
guardian in an interview published today.
“We are disappointed to note that the government has
imposed a re-condition linking the date for the commencement
of talks with the possible de-proscription. This is a clear
indication that Ranil's administration is reneging on its
original position under the influence of Kumaratunga,” it
said.
“Chandrika seems to have successfully impressed upon
Ranil to consider the interim administration only after
finding a permanent resolution to the contentious core issues
underlying the ethnic conflict, a theme she persistently
adopted and miserably failed,” Balasingham said.
The government last week said it could lift the four-year
ban on the deadly guerrilla group only if it agreed to a firm
date for beginning what will be the first face-to-face
negotiations between them in seven years.
Bureau Report
