A waste of time. That is the widely expressed characterisation of the two days of Norwegian facilitated talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers in Geneva over the weekend.

Even as the talks approached, the omens were not good. No agenda was agreed or even discussed ahead of the talks – though both sides were bluntly telling the media what they were going to talk about.

For the LTTE, it was the humanitarian crisis in which Tamils in many parts of the Northeast find themselves in the wake of government military offensives and reimposed or extended embargoes on food and medicine.

The government said it wanted to speak about 'core issues' - i.e. a political solution to the island's ethnic conflict.

The two approaches were irreconcilable. But the Norwegian facilitators were not daunted. They had a more limited objective: to get both sides to at least sit face-to-face across the table and agree on the dates of the next round or, even better, rounds.

Last weekend’s talks resulted, despite Norway’s diplomatic assertion the Geneva talks came after requests by both sides, from intense international pressure.

As both sides made manifestly clear, they themselves saw no purpose in the talks.

Violence has been rising steadily over the year, the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) looking increasingly irrelevant. The international observers of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) are unable to cope with scale of the truce violations.

After a series of successful offensives against the LTTE, the government is confident to can end the conflict with a military victory over the Tigers.

The LTTE feels the international community neither can, nor wants to restrain the GoSL’s pursuit of a military solution.

In September, the self-styled Co-Chairs – the United States, the European Union, Japan and Norway – met and demanded both sides resume negotiations.

In an effort to pre-empt the points of dispute which aborted earlier efforts, the Co-Chairs even set out the venue – Oslo, dates – early October and an agenda – stabilisation of the CFA, strengthening of the SLMM, and finding a way forward to peace talks.

Colombo bristled at being dictated terms to talk to ‘terrorists’ whilst the LTTE braced for an impending Sri Lankan offensive.

However, earlier this month, after defeat for the offensive and killing over 130 soldiers, the LTTE carried out two major attacks outside the Northeast – a suicide bombing that killed 115 sailors and an attack on Galle naval base by suicide boats.

The spiralling violence increased international alarm and led to increased pressure for talks.

So did the soaring numbers of human rights violations. Abductions followed by murders, disappearances in military custody as well indiscriminate bombardments have led to over a thousand civilian deaths this year.

"Developments in Sri Lanka in the past months have seriously endangered the peace process," said Switzerland Foreign Affairs Deputy Head Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini who gave the opening address.

"Switzerland, as the depositary State of the Geneva Conventions, feels it cannot forgo its responsibility to remind the parties to the conflict of their obligations to respect International Humanitarian Law, in particular to protect civilians from the effects of armed conflict," she pointedly said.

Switzerland’s best wishes and Norway’s encouragements did little to promote goodwill between the protagonists.

Indeed, the only positive factor for the facilitators was that the parties met. As the Norwegians noted, “the parties deserve recognition for accepting this call by the co-chairs, coming for these consultations at a time when conflict is more apparent than peace in Sri Lanka.”

“The parties agreed that the peace process will need to address the three following areas: (1) Human suffering (2) Military de-escalation and reduction of violence and (3) Political components leading up to a political settlement,” a Norwegian statement said.

But no amount of Norwegian optimism could disguise the fact that, with divergent agendas the Geneva discussions were a fiasco.

“Discussions were also held on the urgent humanitarian situation and the need to address the plight of a very large number of civilians,” Norway said.

“Several issues were discussed. The LTTE requested the A9 to be opened. The Government refused to do so at this point. No agreement was reached between the parties on how to address the humanitarian crisis.”

The A9 is the sole road to Jaffna on which supplies to the 600,000 residents must travel. The road has been closed since August.

Perhaps most importantly, “no date for a new meeting was agreed upon.”

Norway’s diplomats “will be in ongoing dialogue with the parties to discuss all possible ideas on how to move the peace process forward.”

But the impasse now centres squarely on the A9 road.

Infuriated by the government’s refusal to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis gripping much of the Northeast, the LTTE has made the opening of the A9 a condition for further talks.

“During the talks [we] pointed out the suffering of the people including access through highways and roads in all parts of the [Tamil] homeland,” the LTTE said in a statement.

“The closure of the A-9 highway has resulted in open prison for more than six hundred thousand people in the Jaffna peninsula under the occupation of sixty thousand Sri Lankan military personnel.”

The government countered that the sea route was available to supply food to Jaffna, even though ships could not keep pace with the demands formerly satisfied by up to 200 lorries a day along the road.

The Tigers pointed out that the 600,000 people were being held prisoner on the peninsula.

The closure of A-9 constitutes a new ‘Berlin Wall’ the LTTE said. “It is a violation of the CFA and the right to free movement resulting in separation of family members and causing untold human misery.”

When the GoSL delegation argued that the closure of the A9 was not new and that it was closed between 1994 and 2002, the LTTE pointed out that that was a time of war and asked if by closing the road now, the government was intending to push the Tamil people to war, defeat them, and then negotiate with a subjugated people.

Most importantly, for the Tigers, “no satisfactory explanation was given by the GoSL for the refusal to reopen the A-9.”

The LTTE asserted the “the GoSL must be having a hidden military agenda.”

Its suspicions were fuelled by hectic military activity underway in the peninsula, just as it was ahead of the major offensive launched by the SLA in early October.

The LTTE asserted that it was at the table in Geneva because the international community led by the Co-Chairs had demanded talks.

Moreover, the LTTE delegation said, it was prepared to discuss the CFA, the SLMM and restoration of normalcy precisely because these were issues highlighted by the Co-Chairs.

The government delegation countered that it wanted to talk about ‘core issues’ rather than waste time on these issues.

The LTTE countered that it too was ready to talk about core issues, even a political solution and demanded if the GoSL delegation had brought any proposals for this.

The GoSL delegation admitted it had not, pleading the case that the ruling SLFP party had only just signed a pact with the main opposition UNP and that the All-Party Conference (APC) had, despite 10 months of deliberation, not come up with any proposals.

The LTTE welcomed the pact signed by the two major Sinhala political parties, saying that once the Sinhala polity reaches a consensus with respect to the resolution to the conflict, the LTTE will enter into political negotiations with GoSL.

However, the LTTE warned, it expects that by this time normalcy returns and a conducive environment created.

Launching its own agenda at the talks, the government attacked the LTTE as undemocratic and accusing it of ruling by the gun.

The LTTE replied that it is more committed to the democratic principles than the GoSL, pointing out that the Tamil armed struggle had erupted precisely because of the closure of democratic routes for the Tamil to make their demands first for equality and then for self-rule.

The LTTE challenged the GoSL to repeal the sixth amendment as a token of its commitment to democracy and pluralism. (The sixth amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution prohibits peaceful advocacy for a separate state through democratic means.)

The LTTE also challenged the GoSL to withdraw its armed forces from the Tamil homeland and allow the holding of a referendum under international supervision to ascertain the aspirations of the Tamil people.

The government did not have a response to any of the challenges.

Interestingly, during deliberation with Norwegian facilitators at the end of the first day, the LTTE agreed to a proposal to fix a date for next round of talks on the condition the A9 highway is opened before that date.

However, the GoSL did not respond positively to the suggestion, and the LTTE now insists that the A9 must be opened before a date is agreed and has asked the Norwegian facilitators and the SLMM to facilitate this.

As had widely been expected, the talks between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government in Geneva last weekend ended in fiasco. Not even the simplest of expectations – that the two sides would agree to meet again – was met. The irony is that even though most observers were certain nothing would come of these talks, there was intense focus on their outcome anyway. But as this newspaper argued ahead of Geneva 2, the manifest lack of goodwill on both sides and, more importantly, Colombo's unashamed pursuit of a military solution, should have been seen by the international community as problematic antecedents for peace negotiations. These significant obstructions to any peace process were both reinforced and illuminated by the developments in Geneva.

The LTTE and GoSL arrived with entirely different preoccupations. The LTTE, quite rightly, focussed on the matters of current urgency: the humanitarian crisis affecting hundreds of thousands of Tamils, the spiralling violence and the fraying ceasefire. The government claimed it was interested in discussing the ‘core issues’ related to a political solution to the conflict. We say claimed, because when the LTTE unexpectedly agreed to discuss these core issues and asked for Colombo’s proposals, the government delegation admitted they had brought none. Indeed, just as in Geneva 1, the GoSL delegation imagined itself on some international stage and simply heaped vitriol on the LTTE for the duration of the talks – beginning with Chief Negotiator Siripala de Silva’s 80-minute address.

There is a grave humanitarian crisis in several parts of the Northeast, particularly in Jaffna. This crisis has been brought about, moreover, by the deliberate actions of the Sri Lankan government. The UN agencies, the rest of the humanitarian relief community and many of the foreign embassies in Colombo are acutely aware of this. Yet the Sri Lankan government denied there is a crisis and its negotiators publicly dismissed the LTTE’s demand the A9 highway be opened as ‘irrelevant.’ The talks collapsed last weekend primarily because Colombo was simply not prepared to budge on the A9, irrespective of the suffering endured by the people of Jaffna or the implications its callous indifference made to the prospects for peace. And the reason for the government’s intransigence is obvious to all: the Sri Lankan military is preparing a fresh offensive on Elephant Pass along the A9.

The international community is also partly to blame for both the humanitarian crisis and the failure of the talks. By reassuring and reinforcing the Sri Lankan state, even as it very publicly imposed embargoes on Tamil areas and prosecuted an undeclared war against the LTTE, the international community has devalued the Norwegian peace process and cheapened Tamil life. Barely days before the Geneva talks, senior US officials publicly praised the rightwing administration of President Mahinda Rajapakse and launched a vitriolic attack on the LTTE. When even the US publicly declares that it is backing Sri Lanka in its talks with the LTTE, why wouldn’t Colombo have adopted the intransigent and belligerent stand it did?

We argued (yet again) last week that the international community's fetishisation of the mere mechanisms of talks over the need for suitable objective conditions would lead to fiasco. If Norway’s aim in Geneva was primarily to secure agreement for the parties to meet again, then it was destined to fail. The government believes the international community wants talks mainly to give peace a chance before Colombo is given the go-ahead to militarily destroy the LTTE. Last chance for the Tigers, so to speak. A conviction amongst many observers in Colombo and elsewhere that the LTTE is militarily weak has no doubt contributed to this.

To begin with, seasoned observers may recall the numerous times the LTTE has been written off before. Whatever the true strength of the LTTE - and only the movement really knows that - recent events have lent new force to its argument that the Tamils are lost without its military strength. It is now clear that without the LTTE able to force concessions from the Sinhala-dominated state, the international community will simply pass the Tamils by whilst pursuing its own economic and strategic interests in the island. The events of the past year have done much to weaken the force of international norms, particularly those concerning human rights, good governance and the much exalted ones of democracy and pluralism.

The question is what happens next. If Sri Lanka does not open the road then there will be no more talks. True, the LTTE has folded on similar ultimatums before previous talks. But Sri Lanka is about to escalate its war against the Tigers - with international backing. The Tamils are once again at that familiar junction: war for peace.

A waste of time. That is the widely expressed characterisation of the two days of Norwegian facilitated talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers in Geneva over the weekend.

Even as the talks approached, the omens were not good. No agenda was agreed or even discussed ahead of the talks – though both sides were bluntly telling the media what they were going to talk about.

For the LTTE, it was the humanitarian crisis in which Tamils in many parts of the Northeast find themselves in the wake of government military offensives and reimposed or extended embargoes on food and medicine.

The government said it wanted to speak about 'core issues' - i.e. a political solution to the island's ethnic conflict.

The two approaches were irreconcilable. But the Norwegian facilitators were not daunted. They had a more limited objective: to get both sides to at least sit face-to-face across the table and agree on the dates of the next round or, even better, rounds.

Last weekend’s talks resulted, despite Norway’s diplomatic assertion the Geneva talks came after requests by both sides, from intense international pressure.

As both sides made manifestly clear, they themselves saw no purpose in the talks.

Violence has been rising steadily over the year, the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) looking increasingly irrelevant. The international observers of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) are unable to cope with scale of the truce violations.

After a series of successful offensives against the LTTE, the government is confident to can end the conflict with a military victory over the Tigers.

The LTTE feels the international community neither can, nor wants to restrain the GoSL’s pursuit of a military solution.

In September, the self-styled Co-Chairs – the United States, the European Union, Japan and Norway – met and demanded both sides resume negotiations.

In an effort to pre-empt the points of dispute which aborted earlier efforts, the Co-Chairs even set out the venue – Oslo, dates – early October and an agenda – stabilisation of the CFA, strengthening of the SLMM, and finding a way forward to peace talks.

Colombo bristled at being dictated terms to talk to ‘terrorists’ whilst the LTTE braced for an impending Sri Lankan offensive.

However, earlier this month, after defeat for the offensive and killing over 130 soldiers, the LTTE carried out two major attacks outside the Northeast – a suicide bombing that killed 115 sailors and an attack on Galle naval base by suicide boats.

The spiralling violence increased international alarm and led to increased pressure for talks.

So did the soaring numbers of human rights violations. Abductions followed by murders, disappearances in military custody as well indiscriminate bombardments have led to over a thousand civilian deaths this year.

"Developments in Sri Lanka in the past months have seriously endangered the peace process," said Switzerland Foreign Affairs Deputy Head Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini who gave the opening address.

"Switzerland, as the depositary State of the Geneva Conventions, feels it cannot forgo its responsibility to remind the parties to the conflict of their obligations to respect International Humanitarian Law, in particular to protect civilians from the effects of armed conflict," she pointedly said.

Switzerland’s best wishes and Norway’s encouragements did little to promote goodwill between the protagonists.

Indeed, the only positive factor for the facilitators was that the parties met. As the Norwegians noted, “the parties deserve recognition for accepting this call by the co-chairs, coming for these consultations at a time when conflict is more apparent than peace in Sri Lanka.”

“The parties agreed that the peace process will need to address the three following areas: (1) Human suffering (2) Military de-escalation and reduction of violence and (3) Political components leading up to a political settlement,” a Norwegian statement said.

But no amount of Norwegian optimism could disguise the fact that, with divergent agendas the Geneva discussions were a fiasco.

“Discussions were also held on the urgent humanitarian situation and the need to address the plight of a very large number of civilians,” Norway said.

“Several issues were discussed. The LTTE requested the A9 to be opened. The Government refused to do so at this point. No agreement was reached between the parties on how to address the humanitarian crisis.”

The A9 is the sole road to Jaffna on which supplies to the 600,000 residents must travel. The road has been closed since August.

Perhaps most importantly, “no date for a new meeting was agreed upon.”

Norway’s diplomats “will be in ongoing dialogue with the parties to discuss all possible ideas on how to move the peace process forward.”

But the impasse now centres squarely on the A9 road.

Infuriated by the government’s refusal to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis gripping much of the Northeast, the LTTE has made the opening of the A9 a condition for further talks.

“During the talks [we] pointed out the suffering of the people including access through highways and roads in all parts of the [Tamil] homeland,” the LTTE said in a statement.

“The closure of the A-9 highway has resulted in open prison for more than six hundred thousand people in the Jaffna peninsula under the occupation of sixty thousand Sri Lankan military personnel.”

The government countered that the sea route was available to supply food to Jaffna, even though ships could not keep pace with the demands formerly satisfied by up to 200 lorries a day along the road.

The Tigers pointed out that the 600,000 people were being held prisoner on the peninsula.

The closure of A-9 constitutes a new ‘Berlin Wall’ the LTTE said. “It is a violation of the CFA and the right to free movement resulting in separation of family members and causing untold human misery.”

When the GoSL delegation argued that the closure of the A9 was not new and that it was closed between 1994 and 2002, the LTTE pointed out that that was a time of war and asked if by closing the road now, the government was intending to push the Tamil people to war, defeat them, and then negotiate with a subjugated people.

Most importantly, for the Tigers, “no satisfactory explanation was given by the GoSL for the refusal to reopen the A-9.”

The LTTE asserted the “the GoSL must be having a hidden military agenda.”

Its suspicions were fuelled by hectic military activity underway in the peninsula, just as it was ahead of the major offensive launched by the SLA in early October.

The LTTE asserted that it was at the table in Geneva because the international community led by the Co-Chairs had demanded talks.

Moreover, the LTTE delegation said, it was prepared to discuss the CFA, the SLMM and restoration of normalcy precisely because these were issues highlighted by the Co-Chairs.

The government delegation countered that it wanted to talk about ‘core issues’ rather than waste time on these issues.

The LTTE countered that it too was ready to talk about core issues, even a political solution and demanded if the GoSL delegation had brought any proposals for this.

The GoSL delegation admitted it had not, pleading the case that the ruling SLFP party had only just signed a pact with the main opposition UNP and that the All-Party Conference (APC) had, despite 10 months of deliberation, not come up with any proposals.

The LTTE welcomed the pact signed by the two major Sinhala political parties, saying that once the Sinhala polity reaches a consensus with respect to the resolution to the conflict, the LTTE will enter into political negotiations with GoSL.

However, the LTTE warned, it expects that by this time normalcy returns and a conducive environment created.

Launching its own agenda at the talks, the government attacked the LTTE as undemocratic and accusing it of ruling by the gun.

The LTTE replied that it is more committed to the democratic principles than the GoSL, pointing out that the Tamil armed struggle had erupted precisely because of the closure of democratic routes for the Tamil to make their demands first for equality and then for self-rule.

The LTTE challenged the GoSL to repeal the sixth amendment as a token of its commitment to democracy and pluralism. (The sixth amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution prohibits peaceful advocacy for a separate state through democratic means.)

The LTTE also challenged the GoSL to withdraw its armed forces from the Tamil homeland and allow the holding of a referendum under international supervision to ascertain the aspirations of the Tamil people.

The government did not have a response to any of the challenges.

Interestingly, during deliberation with Norwegian facilitators at the end of the first day, the LTTE agreed to a proposal to fix a date for next round of talks on the condition the A9 highway is opened before that date.

However, the GoSL did not respond positively to the suggestion, and the LTTE now insists that the A9 must be opened before a date is agreed and has asked the Norwegian facilitators and the SLMM to facilitate this.

As Sinhalese nationalists celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling that the 1987 merger of Sri Lanka’s North and East was illegal and null, Tamils reacted with anger, seeing it as an attack on their assertion of a homeland on the island.

The merger, effected in the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, was successfully challenged by the Sinhala nationalist JVP and the hardline Buddhist JHU party, was two weeks ago declared by a five-bench Supreme Court as being “unconstitutional, invalid and illegal”.

Last Wednesday, all the districts of the Tamil-dominated NorthEast shut down in response to a call by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to protest and unitedly express Tamil opposition to the Sinhala rightwing government’s move to officially split the NorthEast.

Very few vehicles plied the streets, shops remained closed, businesses and private institutions remained closed and the Tamil towns in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas of Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna were deserted, reports said.

Despite threats by SLA soldiers and Tamil paramilitaries to shopkeepers in Jaffna, warning that they would not be allowed to open their shops again if they were not open on the Wednesday, all shops were shut.

In Batticaloa, cadres of the paramilitary Karuna Group threatened civil service officials and business owners not to support the protest against the de-merger.

"All public offices must work. Transportation must flow as usual," according to a leaflet issued in Tamil by paramilitary operatives under the pseudonym "Theendum Padai" (Biting Force). The leaflet had warned Tamil business owners that the shops being shut down on the protest day would be confiscated.

Meanwhile, JVP Parliamentary Group Leader Wimal Weerawansa said not only the court order but the day it was issued on was of historical significance.

“The inhabitants [of this island] rose up in rebellion against the first white governor and against the British imperialism on a day like today in 1818,” he said.

“So it is remarkable that this order which will have an enormous impact on the so-called Eelam concept was made on such a day.”

The ultranationalist North and East Sinhala Organisation (N-ESO) President Ven Senpathiye Ananda Thera said the government in the past had turned a deaf ear to earlier calls by his group to de-merge the North and the East.

“The majority of the people would be happy about this court order as it was a defeat for the LTTE,” he said.

In contrast, the Tamils see the de-merger as designed to deny the Tamils their assertion of a traditional homeland on the island.

The TNA called on Sri Lanka’s President and government to “immediately take necessary action to validly restore the Status Quo Ante pertaining to the constitution of the North-East as one Unit.”

The TNA gave the government until November 7 to respond favourably.

“[The North and East were] merged through the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord, based on the sound principle of recognising the northeastern provinces, as the historical habitation of the Tamil-speaking people,” noted TNA parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam in an interview with the Sunday Leader.

“[The Supreme Court] seems to hold the view that the merger is invalid due to a technicality, which is the process, through which the merger was brought about,” he notes.

“Our view is that the merger has to remain. The government will have to take immediate steps to validly constitute the northeast as one unit,” he said.

"We see the situation as a declaration of war against Tamils," TNA Jaffna district MP M.K. Sivajilingam told the Daily Mirror.

The de-merger ruling, sought by President Mahinda Rajapakse’s political allies, comes despite pointed international opposition to it.

Asked about the Court ruling, US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher said the timing of the “unfortunate” issue of the de-merger raised lot of questions.

He was referring to the ruling coming just weeks before the Tamil Tigers and the government were to meet in Geneva for internationally demanded talks to end the rising tide of violence.

"[The merger of the North and East] is one of the fundamental assumptions of the whole negotiations and therefore, … it does raise some issues for all the parties, about how they are going to approach these both in terms of the court decision and in terms of negotiations," Mr. Boucher said.

India has also been consistent in its opposition to the de-merger, a point made by the Indian leadership to President Rajapakse just weeks ago.

India had insisted the Northeast Province should not be de-merged without a referendum, and such a referendum would only be possible when there was a "conducive atmosphere" in place.

The co-chairs of Sri Lanka’s donor community – the United States, Eureopean Union, Japan and Norway - also express similar views recently.

At their meeting in Brussels on September 12 they cautioned “there should be no change to the specific arrangements for the north and east, which could endanger the achievement of peace.”

The northern and eastern provinces were merged according to the Indo-Sri Lanka agreement signed in 1987 by then Sri Lankan President, J. R. Jayawardene, and then Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

The temporary merger of the two provinces, with a condition that a referendum should be held to merge the provinces permanently, still continues and a Governor appointed by the President is now administering the North East Provincial Council established under Sri Lanka’s 13th Constitutional Amendment.

India is “happy but not overtly jubilant” over the recently signed pact between Sri Lanka's two main political parties, reported the IANS news agency.

The Indian assessment is that the agreement between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) is indeed crucial, but “it needs to be watched what and where it leads to”.

“The Indian establishment feels that the SLFP-UNP pact would prove beneficial to Sri Lanka even if it results in their genuine cooperation on any of the issues covered by the agreement and not just the ethnic conflict” the IANS report said.

But, it stressed that almost all Indians underline that the pact is “just a good political beginning and that Sri Lanka's road to peace is going to be long and tortuous even with the backing of the international community”.

The report stated that the agreement would “prove to be truly path-breaking only if - and policy makers emphasize it is no small if - it helps in an ultimate resolution of an ethnic conflict that has bled Sri Lanka”.

The two-year accord covers six key areas: the ethnic question, good governance, electoral reforms, strengthening the economy, pursuing educational reforms and social development.

Since the signing of the 2002 Norwegian brokered ceasefire agreement between the LTTE and the Sri Lanka government, “India has been repeatedly emphasizing to the Sri Lankan political leaders the necessity to put aside petty differences and team up on the burning ethnic issue” the report said.

It added that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Indian external affairs officials have stressed this at every interaction with Sri Lankan officials, including in Havana in September on the sidelines of the summit of non-aligned nations.

The agreement signed last week by Sri Lanka’s two main parties to cooperate on crucial problems facing the island, including the ethnic conflict and managing the economy, has been met with cautious optimism as well as scepticism.

Representatives of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) signed the 10-clause cooperation accord to implement a four point common national agenda in a televised ceremony Monday last week.

The SLFP-UNP deal is to last for two years.

“We have all agreed here that the only way forward is a political solution to peace,” UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said after the signing ceremony.

“Without stability, the country cannot develop,” he added.  “This agreement today is to achieve peace and a political solution to national question.”

Mr Wickremesinghe said the agreement sought to pave the way for a better political culture and environment where importance is given to gathering in harmony, discussing in harmony and dispersing in harmony.

President Mahinda Rajapakse declared: “we are moving in a new direction of political understanding and consensus, as seen in India and other countries.”

He then invited the two Sinhala nationalist parties, JVP and JHU – both of whom had crucially supported his presidential campaign in November 2005 – to also join the government.

“We have placed the country first,” President Rajapakse said. “With this coming together it would be possible to eliminate terrorism, and build a country at peace where all people can live together without fear.”

JHU parliamentary group leader Athuraliye Rathana told the BBC Sinhala service that his party supports the UNP-SLFP agreement as it united the Sinhalese.

The agreement was signed for the SLFP by General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena and for the UNP by Chairperson Malik Samarawickrema, with the ceremony taking place at the President's official residence in Colombo.

Under the agreement, the UNP will “extend support to the Government in the pursuit of a negotiated settlement to the on-going conflict.”

The common national agenda includes four identified issues: Conflict in the North & East, Electoral Reforms, Good Governance and Social Development

The proposed structure for collaboration, including the modalities for collaboration, will be “implemented at an early date after further direct discussion between the two Leaders and acceptance by the appropriate bodies of each of the two Parties’” the agreement stated.

The SLFP-UNP agreement is ‘significant’ reported Bloomberg.

“A bipartisan attempt to solve the longstanding ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils is an unprecedented innovation for Sri Lanka, which has tried all else – including armed intervention by neighbouring India and third-party mediation by Norway – without much success.”

“Bravo, They Did It,” said a Daily Mirror headline, while a Daily News editorial called it “a historic day in the post-independence political history of Sri Lanka.”

“This agreement helps bring about a convergence on a political solution, especially on power sharing, in the peace process,” said Jehan Perera, director of the National Peace Council, a Sri Lankan non-governmental peace advocacy organization.

“The government will be assured of a two-thirds majority in parliament to pass legislation when reaching agreement with the LTTE.”

“There's cautious optimism in the market that a common political agenda will add more weight in coming to a negotiated peace settlement,” Sriyan Gurusinghe, general manager at Ceylinco Stock Brokers Ltd. in Colombo, told Bloomberg.

But others were sceptical, with many arguing that whilst the bi-partisan concensus looks good on paper, it was doubtful it would last.

“We are closely watching [the two parties],” said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam.

A bipartisan approach is needed to stop the ethnic outbidding, he said, adding “[the agreement] will at least have the Sinhala leaders becoming a bit honest with their own people.”

India has also reacted with cautious optimism to the signing of the agreement.

The Indian assessment is that the agreement between the SLFP and the UNP is indeed crucial, but “it needs to be watched what and where it leads to,” the IANS news agency reported.

Norwegian development minister Eric Solheim welcomed the “move to build a southern consensus.”

The LTTE has in the past complained that unless the Sinhalese political parties made up their minds on how much they were willing to concede, it was impossible to negotiate.

A Sri Lankan media watchdog last week condemned the burning of 10,000 copies of popular Tamil dailies by Army-backed paramilitaries in the restive Batticaloa district.

Registering its “strong condemnation of continuing threats and harassments to Tamil language media in Sri Lanka” the Free Media Movement (FMM) said the burning last Monday was “the latest incident of series of killings, harassments and threats directed towards Tamil language media in Sri Lanka.”

The incident occurred in the government control Kiran region of Batticaloa, near the Kiran regional Secretariat.

An armed group of 10-15 men, reportedly cadres of the paramilitary Karuna Group, had stopped the private passenger transport bus and a van carrying the copies of Virakesari daily and metro News to be distributed in the Batticaloa district.

The men had then burned the papers in the van, consisting of nearly 10,000 copies of the Virahesari and an unknown quantity of the metro News, at a compound opposite the Secretariat.

The gunmen took away bus driver's hand phone and asked him to collect it at the office of the Karuna Group, TamilNet reported.

The FMM pointed out that the Karuna Group has political offices in government controlled areas in the east and in Colombo, and is protected by Sri Lankan security forces.

The Virakesari is the only Tamil language newspaper which has been distributed in the east for some time now, the FMM press release said.

“Other two Tamil dailies Sudar Oli and Thinakural, were banned in the beginning of the year in Batticaloa and Amparai allegedly by the Karuna Group,” the statement said.

“According to Sudaroli management one third of their circulation has dropped due to this ban,” it noted.

The FMM urge the government to take urgent steps to reverse the situation, “so that Tamil language news papers will be able to distribute freely and people living in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka will have the choice of reading what ever newspaper they like.” 
Earlier in August, paramilitaries collaborating with the Sri Lanka Army had threatened the owner of Surena Travels not to deliver the Sudaroli and Thinakural newspapers to Batticaloa distrobutor.

On August 5, paramilitary cadres burnt the Sudaroli, Thinakural distributor's shop in Batticaloa, despite it being located 75 meters from a Sri Lankan military camp.

October 29

● Two gunmen riding a motor cycle shot and killed Sellathurai Sutharsan, 27, of Urumpirai, an auto rickshaw owner, while he was standing in front of his house.

● A fisherman fishing in Silavattai Sea in Mullaithivu district was killed and another injured when the SLN attacked them. Ariveeran Murugappan, 66, father of two, who was displaced from Udappu in Mannar district and living at Selvapuram in Mullaithivu, died in the incident. Veerapathiran Nagarasa, 49, father of six, who was operating the engine at the time of attack and escaped with injuries, is a resident of Selvapuram in Mullaithivu. "We signaled that we were civilians by waving white clothes, but the Sri Lanka Navy sailors, ignored our signals, opened fire and drowned our boat," said Nagarasa, who had managed to swim ashore with his companion's body.

● Six civilians were killed and one seriously injured when a bomb, allegedly carried by a bicyclist, exploded in Udupiddy, Vadamaradchy. While the body of the person who allegedly carried the bomb has not been identified, the five other victims were pedestrians identified as Tharmalingam Rasavi, 54, of Udupiddy, Wijethas Sivendran, 18, and Selvamanickam Gnanendran, 16, both of Valvetitturai, Rasathurai Sasikaran, 23, of Kerudavil, Thondamanaaru, and Tharmalingam Sivanandan, 17, of Imayanan, Karanavai South.

● Gunmen shot dead Suntharalingam Govindan, 16, of Mankadu in Chettipalayam and seriously injured two others at Vantharumoolai Market Road in Eravur. One of the injured was identified as Govindan’s younger brother, Suntharalingam Ramesh, 14, and the other as Kishore Uthayakumar, 15, from Periya Neelavanai.

● Attackers, believed to be paramilitary operatives, lobbed six grenades at the house of Vanni district TNA parliamentarian Sivanathan Kishore, in Rambaikulam, 1 km east of SLA controlled Vavuniya. The parliamentarian, who was at his house, narrowly escaped injury. A policeman providing security to the parliamentarian was wounded and police said they recovered two unexploded grenades.

● Gunmen shot and seriously injured Thampipillai Ranjan, 28, a father of two from Karayakanthivu in Kannankuda, as he was on his way to fish in a pond close to his house in LTTE held territory in Batticaloa.


October 28

● Armed men opened fire on a house Vipulananda Road in Vantharumoolai, Eravur, seriously injuring three young siblings and a baby. The injured were identified as Pathmanathan Selvaranee, 19, Pathmanathan, 17, Pathmanathan Vinothini, 11 and Yathurshan, 01. Yathursan’s family are neighbours of the Pathmanathan siblings.

● Nalliah Sivakumar, 42, was shot dead by at Mallikaitheivu in Muthur division.

● Two LTTE cadres, allegedly on leave visiting their parents, were shot dead by the SLA in two different interior villages in Batticaloa. Representatives of the ICRC have made arrangements to transfer the bodies to the LTTE.

Jeyasri Kunasekaran, alias Nanthaseelan, of Palachcholai, Kakkachchiveddai was killed in 39th Colony, a boarder village between Amparai and Batticaloa districts. Sivappirakasm Rajan, alias Ranjanithevan, of Vijayan Stores road, Kalkudah, Valaichchenai was killed at Nasivanthivu.

Earlier, Valaichchenai Police said that SLA had shot dead a youth in Nasivanthivu and had recovered a T56 assault rifle. Also, Amparai Police had claimed that the STF camp at 11th Colony, Bakkiyella, on the Batticaloa ­ Amparai border, came under attack around and that STF had repulsed the attack. In the ensuing search operation STF had recovered two bodies of LTTE cadres and two T-56 rifles, the Police had claimed.

The LTTE said that the SLA soldiers had killed two unarmed LTTE cadres and had staged their bodies placing weapons nearby to make it appear they were cadres who participated in attacks against the SLA.

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● A field officer attached to Non Violent Democrative Activities Group (NVDAG), a local NGO, who disappeared Wednesday after being interrogated by SLA troopers stationed along the A9 between Chemmani Road junction and Ariyalai Mampalam junction, was released. Thiyagarajah Sajinthan, 28, from Nunavil, Chavakachcheri, set out from the NGO office located at Nunavil along the A9 highway and was stopped by the SLA in the Chemmani area. Sajinthan declined to reveal details of his abductors but said that he had returned home safely.



● A police constable was injured when assailants hurled a hand grenade towards the police officer on Pannaicholai Road in Eravur.



● A member of the paramilitary Karuna Group was shot and seriously injured when gunmen fired at a group of cadres walking from Pillaiyar Temple along Badulla Road to the paramilitaries' office in Chenkalady, Batticaloa. Kanagaratnam Suthersan, alias Sarangan, 19, was rushed to Batticaloa hospital.



● Three SLA troopers were injured when assailants triggered a claymore mine targeted at a SLA road patrol in Veppankulam, Vavuniya.



● Three SLA troopers were injured in a claymore ambush on their military vehicle in a depopulated area between Nagarkovil and Eluthumadduval, behind the SLA FDL. Assailants triggered the claymore mine at a location near Maruthadikulam, where a high ranking SLA officer was killed and two SLA troopers injured in a similar attack nearly three months earlier.



● An SLA soldier was killed when gunmen hurled a hand grenade at a sentry near Saraiyadi, Vadamaradchy along the Point-Pedro - Jaffna Road.



October 27



● An SLA offensive towards LTTE controlled Vaharai in the East was repulsed by the Tigers. "Around 300 Sri Lankan troopers launched a ground offensive backed by artillery and mortar fire from Welikande and Karadikkulam SLA camps and entered our territory via Thirukkonamadu at 7:30 a.m.," said LTTE Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan, speaking to the media from Geneva, Switzerland.



● Two SLA troopers, who were part of a foot patrol, were seriously injured when assailants triggered a claymore mine along Jaffna-Point Pedro Road in Aavarangal, Valigamam East. SLA troops cordoned off a large area in Aavarangal and conducted a search operation. Nearby pedestrians were indiscriminately attacked by SLA troopers brought to the area following the claymore attack, and vehicular traffic along the heavily used Jaffna- Point Pedro road was blocked for more than two hours during the search operation.



● Gunmen shot dead Murugupillai Poopalaratnam, 65, of Thevapuram, Murakodanchenai, Eravur. The assailants called the victim out of his house, shot him at close range, and escaped.



● The owner and operator of a mini-cinema was shot dead by gunmen inside a jewellery store in Kannathiddy junction, Jaffna town. Veerasingham Chandramohan, 42, from Kasturiar Road, Jaffna operated a mini-cinema near Jaffna Hindu College. A few months earlier, arsonists had set fire to his cinema theatre after threatening Chandramohan for showing socially-degrading films, including pornographic ones.



● The bodies of two youths were found at 3rd mile-post, near Chelvanayagapuram, Trincomalee. They had been killed Thursday night by unknown gunmen.



October 26



● The Sea Tigers and SLN clashed for 5-hours in the Kilaly Bay. SLN gunboats off Kerathivu had mistaken Sea Tiger patrol vessels in Sangupitty area as an LTTE attempt to launch an attack on Jaffna, an anonymous SLN told TamilNet. LTTE vessels alleged to have set off from Pooneryn Munai via Sangupitty jetty area toward the Kilaly Bay, were observed by Keratheevu naval troops who began the attack on the Sea Tigers. The SLA, based in Gurunagar, Pasaiyoor, Ariyalai east, southern and western parts of Thenmaradchy, Kokilakandy, Thanagkilappu and Keratheevu, supported the SLN with heavy mortar and artillery fire launched form their positions. The LTTE retaliated from its Sangupitty base.



● Three Karuna Group cadres were killed and eight injured when a fellow cadre, who had recently joined the paramilitary group, lobbed grenades and shot at them. The cadres had been asleep inside the Chenkalady Pillayar temple, close to the SLA Black Bridge camp, when the attack occurred. The cadre who attack had escaped from the area. The three dead were identified as M. Vasu, K. Arunan and M. Mano, while the eight injured were identified as Kajan, 39, Aynkaran, 37, Imayavan ,21, Arunan, 40, Shanthan, 35, Suntharamoorthy, 27, Srithavan, 46, and Kalaiarasan, 16.



● The SLA began firing began firing artillery shells and Multi-Barrel Rockets into LTTE controlled Panichchankerni area from its Mankerny base.



● One man, three teens and two children, collecting vegetables in a field located on Chelvi Theatre Road, Chenkalady, Eravur, were seriously injured when a bomb, concealed in a plot of spinach in the garden, exploded. Kanagasooriyam Rajendran, 40, Sathananthan Maithili, 19, Sathananthan Yaso, 16, Kanthasamy Shanthini, 14, Kanthasamy Shantharoopan, 11 and Kanthasamy Rajkumar, 2 were identified as the injured. Mr Rajendran and the children tend to the vegetable garden, and pick vegetables every morning.




October 25



● Mr. Padmakumara, 27, a Sinhalese, was shot dead by gunmen in the Thekangkaadu area of Vavuniya, but motives for the killing have not yet been established.



● Maheswaran Kaneswaran, 21, was seriously injured when gunmen called him out of his house in Thalankuda, Batticaloa, and shot at him before escaping.



October 24



● Vinasithamby Gunaseelan, 22, a building mason from Pillayar Kovil street in Chunkankerny, Valaichenai, was seriously injured when unidentified persons waiting in ambush opened fire as he was riding his bicycle to work.



● Ms. K. Ariyamany of Pethalai, 30, was caught in the cross fire between two rival groups and was seriously injured at Vinayagapuram, Valaichenai. Such clashes have become frequent with increasing incidents of infiltrations by Karuna paramilitary group cadres, villagers said.



● A SLA soldier was injured when a claymore was triggered along Udupidy-Vathiry road in Vadamaradchi, Jaffna.



● A SLA trooper was killed in a claymore explosion near Athiyady Kovil on Beach Road in Valvettithurai, Jaffna. Soon after, SLA troopers shot dead a youth in the vicinity. The SLA said the youth tried to escape after hurling a grenade at them, killing one of the soldiers, but local witnesses said that youth was walking along Beach Road when the SLA shot at him.



October 23



● A civilian and a police sergeant were seriously injured when a mortar shell exploded near a police sentry point on the Vavunathivu SLA FDL. Sinnathamby Sinnavan, 55, a tractor driver, and Sergeant K. Wickremesinghe, 36, were both admitted to Batticaloa hospital.



● The SLN arrested three Muslim villagers of Puthukudiruppu, Mannar, for allegedly transporting fuel to LTTE held villages. The SLN seized seven barrels containing 210 litres of diesel, two fibreglass boats and a truck from the suspects, Mannar Police said.



● Armed men stopped a lorry, shot dead the driver, Prabath Jayasinghe, 28, of Galle, and injured another man at Poonthodam in Vavuniya. Monday around 10:30 a.m. said Vavuniya police.



● Paramilitary cadres, allegedly of the Karuna Group, set fire to regional Tamil dailies in Batticaloa (see separate story).



● Nadarajah Inthiran, 23, was found lying with gunshot injuries at the Hali Oluwa junction in Seruvila, Serunuwara. He was taken to hospital, where he died.



● Five Tamil youths were abducted from Thiriyai, Trincomalee, by unknown armed persons.

B. D. Wijetunga, 42, the commanding officer, Artillery Division of Kommathurai military camp, was seriously injured during a gunfire exchange with gunmen near the Eastern University campus in Vantharoomoolai, Batticaloa. He was admitted to Batticaloa Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The clash occurred after a convoy of SLA soldiers going on vacation had passed the area, and was targeted at the troops providing protection.

“Many people have no work, and transportation into Jaffna is currently limited to air and sea,” UNICEF said in a report from the area.

“In the town, queues form outside food shops. Although the government is continuing to bring in supplies by ship and has set up a rationing system, almost everyone talks about shortages of flour, rice, sugar and lentils. On the black market, sugar and petrol are now about four times their normal prices.”

More than 50,000 people have been displaced across the peninsula by renewed fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Government forces.

“The majority have squeezed into the houses of relatives and friends,” UNICEF reported. “Others have gathered at temporary accommodation centres.”

The agency cited the experiences of one child.

“A shell landed on our village and I was wounded in the leg,” Jeyapiria Jeyaratnam, 10, recalled.

“I’ve seen a lot of fighting. I hear noises in the night and I’m very scared. I feel that a shell is going to fall here, and I get frightened when I hear about fighting on the radio.”

Her mother, Mary Angaleena, said the family decided to sleep in a church when the shelling started. She was wounded as well, and the family was evacuated by ambulance. “We lost everything, even our clothes,” she said.

Jeyapiria now spends her time with other children at Our Lady of Refuge. She is in Grade 5 and said she’s disappointed she had to miss her exams because of the conflict. Children like Jeyapiria are registering for school and hope to start lessons soon.

UNICEF has been working with the government and other partners to support the families at the church and other centres in the area, creating spaces for children to play and take informal lessons.

Northeast of Jaffna town, in the Karaveddy area, 7,000 people have been displaced, two thirds of them living with host families. They fled fighting at the front line in the east. In one small village, four families with 11 children between them live together in a single-storey house.

“Food is the main problem,” said the owner of the house. “There’s not enough flour and rice, but everyone will stay here until the problem is solved.

” Because of the security situation, the families are afraid to return to their village.

October 22