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Peace talks resume despite 200-year prison term for Prabhakaran

Jaishree Balasubramanian in Thailand

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government on Friday began the second day of peace talks in Nakhon Pathom in Thailand, even as a 200-year jail sentence was slapped on LTTE chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran by the Sri Lankan high court.

The court sentenced Prabhakaran, in absentia, for planning a truck bombing on the Central Bank that killed 91 people and injured 300.

Government negotiators, however, said Prabhakaran's sentence will not affect the talks.

The talks will focus on a joint appeal for foreign aid and setting up of a joint task force for developing the war ravaged north and the east.

On Thursday, the negotiators reached key agreements on providing security to the Muslims in northeastern Sri Lanka, where most of the community members reside.

The two sides met for the first time in September in Thailand and had decided to establish a joint committee to deal with issues relating to high security zones to enable the return of larger numbers of displaced persons to their areas of origin and facilitating the restoration of normalcy.

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