Sri Lanka's main left party, the JVP or the People's Liberation Front, said Tuesday that the government must prevail on the Tamil Tigers to make the ongoing ceasefire "meaningful".

The JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe told reporters that "they must make ceasefire a meaningful one if we are to achieve success. "

The JVP who is an ally of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse was referring to next week's talks between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels and the government in Geneva.

The talks on Feb. 22-23, the first face-to-face meeting between the rebels and the government since March 2003, are aimed at discussing the flawed Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement signed in February 2002.

Amerasinghe said the truce has led to the destructive path towards the division of the country.

The Tigers who wants to set up a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the Northern and Eastern provinces has been responsible for 96 percent of the truce violations, Amerasinghe stressed.

He said President Rajapakse's mandate received at the November presidential election was one clearly against the flawed ceasefire.

The JVP believes that the government delegation in Geneva must deviate from the old path of appeasing the rebels for the sake of furthering negotiations, the JVP leader said.

The talks must lead to the final solution towards achieving the lasting peace, Amerasinghe added.

Source: Xinhua