After more than two decades of continuous warfare — the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sinhalese dominated government of Sri Lanka will attempt to work out a peace settlement. The Sri Lankan Government has called on the LTTE to engage in sincere peace talks to end escalating bloodshed, after a bomb attack on a bus carrying off-duty police and soldiers killed at least 11 people. Sri Lanka’s main international backers - India, the United States and Japan - have asked the government to give priority to a negotiated settlement of the rebels’ demands instead of opting for military action.
What then is likely to happen in the peace talks?
Who wouldn’t like to see peace in Sri Lanka although, saying there can’t be peace is just like being abusive in the church. The LTTE could use the talks, as it did in 1990 and 1995, as breeding grounds for rearmament directed towards a new military drive and escalated warfare. Alternatively, it could temper its demands and settle for regional autonomy that would leave it as a one-party dictatorship in the Tamil sphere.
Chief government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said
``We want the talks to be sincere.'’
However, it is still unclear whether the LTTE has abandoned its previous demand that all security forces be withdrawn from northern Sri Lanka, which is the main battleground for years.
If talks collapse under the weight of the inflexible issues attached to such a settlement, this would again generate war at a worse level. Given that more than 63,000 lives have been lost so far over two decades in this particular conflict, this is a desperate prospect.
Via: Hindu
