Financial Times

The Sri Lankan government last week told the business community that it was prepared to stop fighting the LTTE in the north, where there has been bloody battles for more than 10 days, if the Tigers stop attacking its frontlines.

“The government would stop the attacks if the attacks on frontlines were to cease. We hope to send (such) a political message through civil society, the international community and NGOs,” Dr Palitha Kohonna, Director-General of the government’s Peace Secretariat told a group of business and civil society leaders on Tuesday.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the Sri Lanka First and Business for Peace Initiative in partnership with International Alert, on the peace building potential in the local private sector, Dr Kohona said the government was urging the international community to put pressure on the LTTE to stop fighting and return to the negotiating table.

Government troops and the LTTE rebels have been battling each other at the frontlines of each other’s territory in Jaffna for many days now. Hundreds of combatants from both sides have died and many more injured in the clashes which have triggered fears of food and fuel shortages in Jaffna. Banks are also running short of cash as all supplies to the region have been affected by the closure of the main highway to the north and a temporary halt to commercial flights. Even though there is heavy fighting, Dr Kohona said the government’s position on peace hasn’t changed.

“We are looking for a solution and a just solution. We are doing everything to find a solution through dialogue and not violence,” he said adding that the government was – while fighting – staying within the limits of the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE in that as a state it was bound to defend the territorial integrity of the country when attacked.

He said the conflict areas in the northeast desperately need investment and urged the private sector to invest there.

The government is working with a World Bank arm to provide insurance cover to the local private sector to invest in those areas, he said.

N. Wijayanandana, chairman of the Business for Peace Alliance (BPA), said in the current situation where there is heavy fighting in the northeast, no one knows what is happening.

“Its difficult to know what is going on. The only thing we are certain of is that more and more people are dying,” he said. “As members of the business community can we remain indifferent to what is happening?” he asked..