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LTTE rejects truce offer, refuses
to talk to Chandrika govt

K Venkataramanan in Colombo

Dashing hopes of a revival of peace process in Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Thursday rejected government's offer of a "mutually agreed ceasefire."

"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 Web site tamilnet.com.

Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar had on Wednesday raised hopes of a revival of the peace initiative when he said the government was considering extending an invitation to the LTTE for talks, along with an offer of mutually agreed truce.

The LTTE spokesman saw the government's offer in backdrop of a political crisis in Sri Lanka following the failure of the government's talks with the opposition United National Party 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. "The LTTE is not naive to jump onto a sinking ship."

PTI

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