Conditions
for outbreak of war developing: Balasingham
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is
"seriously committed to peace and a negotiated settlement,"
its chief negotiator Anton Balasingham has declared – but
he warned that the ongoing "low-intensity conflict" has
a "dangerous potential for further escalation".
His remarks came in an interview he gave in London for The Sunday
Times. It came just a week after President Mahinda Rajapaksa told
The Sunday Times in an exclusive interview that the ceasefire is
still in place and his Government respected it. However, he warned
that if the LTTE insists on continuing its attacks, he would have
to defend the country.
Mr. Balasingham said "The objective conditions for an outbreak
of war are developing. Yet, there is still a space in which meaningful
steps could be taken by the Government to contain the violence of
the paramilitaries and the excesses of the armed forces and create
a congenial environment for de-escalation."
Asked to comment on LTTE's demand for theatre-to-theatre transport
of its eastern military leaders for a meeting in the Wanni as a
prelude to attend last month's Geneva talks, Mr. Balasingham said
"it has been the agreed modality, ever since the CFA."
He said the LTTE could not understand why such an agreed practice
was suddenly suspended.
He said the LTTE was prepared to allow SriLankan Airlines engineers
to conduct depth checks for landing of float planes carrying their
eastern leaders. However, this was not the issue now. He said "The
Government is refusing to grant permission for the LTTE commanders
to carry personal weapons intended for their safety."
The primary cause for the current situation, Mr. Balasingham said,
was "the failure on the part of the Sri Lanka Government to
create a conducive atmosphere of peace and goodwill by containing
paramilitary violence." He said the "current turbulent
situation" and the "stalemate in the peace process"
have been caused by this.
Mr. Balasingham said he did not think the Eelam War IV had already
begun. He was bitterly critical of the JVP and the JHU and accused
them of what he called propagating a false sense of patriotism.
He denied media reports that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran
had sent a message to President Rajapaksa through Japan's Special
Envoy to the peace process, Yasushi Akashi. Last week, in the interview
with The Sunday Times, President Rajapaksa also denied he had received
any message from Mr. Prabhakaran through Mr. Akashi.
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