Sri Lanka President says terror no path to peace

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said Tuesday that the Tamil Tiger rebels must re- enter the process of negotiations as it was the only path to achieving peace in the island nation.

Addressing the inaugural session of a special advisory committee aimed at recommending a constitutional solution to the country's long drawn out separatist armed conflict, Rajapakse said "all our sincere attempts at bringing the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to the negotiating table have failed so far".

The advisory committee meeting was boycotted by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) but was attended by some 13 other political parties represented in the national parliament.

Rajapakse stressed that Sri Lanka needs to devise a home grown solution to the conflict that had claimed over 64,000 lives over the last three decades, "finding a political and constitutional solution to the national question requires a multi-party and an inclusive approach".

Neither the Tamil Tigers nor their proxy political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) are taking part in the proceedings which has come as part of an all political party forum called by Rajapakse to achieve broader southern consensus on the violent conflict.

Nearly 900 people have died since Rajapakse assumed Presidency last November as the Tamil Tiger rebels stepped up violence against government troops.

The rebels in turn are accusing the government of unleashing violence against them. The atmosphere of violence has put in jeopardy the Norwegian backed peace process.

Rajapakse wants the special advisory panel convened on Tuesday to come up with a political package aimed at ending the conflict.

The LTTE rebels call for full autonomy of the self determination in the north and east provinces for the Tamil minority citing discrimination from the majority Sinhala community governments since the country gained independence from Britain in 1948.

All previous political solutions to the crisis were rejected by the Tigers alleging that they fell short of Tamil aspirations.

Source: Xinhua