Rajapakse invites LTTE for direct talks

South Asia News

Rajapakse invites LTTE for direct talks

Colombo, July 4 (IANS) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has offered to talk directly to the Tamil Tigers to end the country's unending ethnic conflict.

'So what I say is, we will give them an outline, we can get the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to sit and draft what they want. They can discuss,' the president told NDTV in an interview.

'We are human beings, they are all Sri Lankans, whether he is (LTTE chief Velupillai) Prabhakaran or Mahinda Rajapakse, both of us are from Sri Lanka, so we can sit and discuss this. So this is what I am asking them - to come and discuss what they want. They can amend.

'I will give an outline. I didn't want to give them something and tell them now to eat it or push them into a tight corner and say you have to accept it. I don't want to do that. What I want is for him to come and participate. Let the LTTE also come and participate in the whole process.'

Asked if the Sri Lankan government had any plans to devolve powers to the minorities, Rajapakse replied: 'Yes certainly. We have appointed a committee of experts. There are Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim representatives, intellectuals, lawyers, even government servants to draft and outline.

'We had tried this with LTTE several times, given them a new constitution... They have not accepted it.

'(My predecessor) Chandrika Kumaratunga tried to introduce another amendment to the constitution as well as other solutions like federalism. They just rejected it.'

Rajapakse denied that his government was covertly backing the LTTE breakaway faction led by Karuna, the former regional commander of the Tigers who split in 2004.

'Who is Karuna?' asked the president. 'On earlier occasions, when we had talks in Geneva or Oslo, Karuna was one of the participants from the LTTE. Now they have broken away from the LTTE and he is also operating.

'So we have said in our territory, where we are controlling, we are not allowing anyone to operate. No faction of the LTTE or Karuna or anyone can come in controlled areas with weapons.'

Rajapakse's comments came as Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran ended a two-day visit during which he held talks with Sri Lankan leaders on ways to bring peace to the island.

Latest News

Star stuff

Rajapakse invites LTTE for direct talks