Sri Lanka's main opposition has slammed a pact between the ruling party's presidential candidate and the leftist party JVP or the People's Liberation Front as a move which would take the country back to the separatist war with the Tigers.

Tissa Attanayake, the spokesman for the United National Party ( UNP), told reporters here Wednesday that the agreement between the JVP and the ruling party candidate Mahinda Rajapakse spelt disaster as it courts war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

The agreement between the JVP and Rajapakse which is to be formally signed soon precludes Rajapakse from having political negotiations with the LTTE and binds him to preserve the unitary nature of the Sri Lankan state.

It also calls for reviewing of the February 2002 cease-fire agreement and to closely examine the role of the facilitator, the Norwegian government.

The agreement binds Rajapakse to shelve the joint pact with the LTTE for the disbursement of tsunami relief assistance to Tamil regions.

Attanayake said all these conditions are capable of dragging back the country to war with the Tiger rebels.

The UNP accuses Rajapakse of adopting a hardline towards negotiations with the LTTE in order to please the JVP who are bitterly opposed to negotiations with the LTTE.

Source: Xinhua