Sri Lanka’s main foreign donors last week declined to issue a statement, but also decided against sanctioning Sri Lanka for its human rights abuses.

Top diplomats from Japan, Norway, the United States and European Union - known collectively as the Co-Chairs - meet in Oslo Tuesday last week at a time when Sri Lanka's relations with the international community are increasingly strained.

Among the items discussed at the June 25 meeting was the possibility of sanctions against Sri Lanka, diplomatic sources said.

However, Japan and the United States had argued strongly against such a move. And as a result, the co-chairs agreed to give Sri Lanka more time, political columnists from Colombo quoted diplomatic sources as saying.

This latest phase of the war has been marked by widespread human rights abuses, for which most blame has been laid at the government's doors.

"Human rights and humanitarian affairs are definitely the issues of the day," Reuters quoted a foreign diplomat as saying on condition of anonymity.

"It's fair to say that some of the Co-Chairs are still very much concerned about the situation in those fields today and will be focusing on that in the time to come."

For the first time, the co-chairs did not issue any public statement after their consultations, which were described as a ‘working meeting’ to exchange notes in the wake of several recent high profile visits to Sri Lanka.

"The Co-Chairs will explore ways and means in which the group, as a whole or as individual countries, can continue helping the parties to cease violence and return to the negotiating table," Eric Solheim, Norwegian Minister for International Development and the host of the meeting, said in a statement prior to the meeting.

However, observers said one reason donors did not comment publicly after the meeting is that they could not agree among themselves on how far to openly pressure the government, Reuters reported.

The co-chairs also agreed to ask the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers to return to peace talks, stressing that they did not support a military solution to the conflict.

At the same time, the US, Japan, the European Union and Norway decided that it was time for Norwegian diplomats to resume playing the role of active peace facilitator in the seemingly never ending conflict, IANS reported.

This decision follows a statement by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa last week that while the Norwegians were encouraged to get the LTTE to agree to talks, they should not think about making a trip to the Vanni to meet then directly.

“President Rajapaksa was of the view that Norway should make contact with the LTTE leadership from Oslo since a visit at this juncture would not be opportune,” the Sunday Times reported last week, of a meeting between Mr. Rajapaksa and Norewegian Minister for International Development Erik Solheim.

The co-chairs will also privately call for an end to human rights abuses and access to the northeast for humanitarian workers, IANS reported.

The co-chairs feel that even if the Tigers are pushed out of the east completely, there can never be a military solution to the conflict and that both parties will have to return to talks to arrest the rapidly deteriorating situation, the IANS agency said.

“At the same time, Sri Lanka seems to have no system or plan in place for talks. The military is also gung ho about its victories and strongly feels there should be no let up in the pressure being put on the LTTE,” the newsagency reported.

Another factor the co-chairs called for is the formulation of a “credible” Political Package to end the conflict, the Sunday Times reported.

“The Co-chairs have expressed the view that parties can be brought to the negotiation table by them provided the commitment to peaceful negotiations first comes from the Government,” the Sri Lankan weekly reported.

“They are of the opinion that proposals formulated by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) which incorporates devolution at district level will only move the peace process backwards rather than moving forward,” the paper said.

Though Indian officials from New Delhi were invited, their envoy in Oslo was expected to attend the meeting as an observer, the Sunday Times reported before the meeting.

Besides Solheim, those who took part in the talks included US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, Special Representative Yasushi Akashi of Japan, Andreas Michaelis from the European Union presidency and Acting Deputy Director General James Morran of the European Commission.

The Oslo meeting was the first of the co-chairs after November 2006 when the grouping met in Washington.

Diplomats and analysts say Sri Lanka is increasingly at risk of isolation over human rights abuses, Reuters reported.

The government was forced into an embarrassing U-turn earlier this month after authorities forcibly evicted nearly 400 Tamils from the capital citing security concerns - prompting international outrage and a Supreme Court ruling blocking such evictions.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the President's brother, openly accused Western countries of bullying the government on human rights, saying they are misinformed and Sri Lanka does not depend on them.

He also justified evicting Tamils from Colombo, saying all measures were fair to defeat terror. He also accused United Nations agencies who expressed their concerns of having been infiltrated by the LTTE.

Also, international experts have criticised a presidential probe into a series of abuses, including the massacre of 17 local staff of aid group Action Contre La Faim in August which Nordic monitors have blamed on security forces.

The experts have said the probe fails to meet international standards and is headed for failure.

And with nearly a dozen media worker murders since 2005, international press freedom groups have described Sri Lanka as one of the world's most dangerous places for journalists, accusing the state of failing to probe the killings and intimidating reporters.

The government has rejected calls for a United Nations human rights monitoring mission, instead vowing to destroy the Tigers militarily.

Sri Lanka has to militarily defeat the Liberation Tigers to encourage the majority Sinhalese to accept a peace deal with the Tamils, Colombo's trade minister, Prof. G. L. Peiris said Friday in an interview with Reuters. Prof. Peiris, a former chief negotiator for the SriLankan government who was famously associated with a landmark agreement with the LTTE in 2002 to explore federalism as a solution to the island’s ethnic conflict, said international criticism about his government’s human rights record was undermining peace.

Prof. Peiris with Jan Peterson, Norwegian Foreign Minister, and LTTE's theoratician, Anton Balasingham, in 2002. Photo TamilNet.

"There really has to be a military response to terrorism, but there's no contradiction between that stance and our clear acknowledgment of the fact that a political process is necessary," Peiris told Reuters in an interview in Washington.

He told Reuters the recent reversion to war taught the government that it needed to be tough militarily to win majority Sinhalese political support for political compromises with the Tamil community.

"There must be no lurking fear in their minds that they're vulnerable to attack by the (Tamil Tigers), and that feeling of security must be established in the minds of the people before any of this can really work on the ground," he said.

Speaking ahead of meetings with US State Department and trade officials, Peiris stopped short of criticizing the decision to trim some aid over human rights concerns. But he said they made the job of seeking peace more difficult.

"A political solution is going to be made much, much more difficult than it needs to be if there is economic adversity and deprivation," he said.

"If the country's squeezed and if the resources are cut off, you are unwittingly creating conditions that are exactly what the extremists would like," Peiris added.

Echoing a lament heard from US officials battling Islamic extremists Prof. Peiris said the Tamil Tigers are "not constrained by any norms or principles, but a government has to act in conformity with the rule of law."

Five years ago Prof. Peiris and the LTTE’s chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, struck a landmark agreement to explore federalism as a solution to the island’s long running ethnic conflict.

The December 2002 agreement, struck in Oslo at the third round of Norwegian facilitated talks between the government and the LTTE, came to dubbed the ‘Oslo Declaration.’

But in January this year Prof Peiris defected from the opposition United National Party (UNP) back to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) which he had previously left for the UNP in 2001.

Following his return to the SLFP and his joining the hardline Sinhala-nationalist government of President Mahinda Rajapakse, Prof. Peiris publicly distanced himself from the Oslo Declaration, dismissing the notions of ‘federalism’, ‘unitary’ and ‘united’ as "mere words."

"Today the intellectuals and experts worldwide agree that terms such as federalism, unitary and united have no clear definition and are indistinct at best," Prof. Peiris said at the time.

"If you take the Indian model for instance, it is neither federal nor unitary in nature but a mixture of both," he explained.

What was required was a "practical solution" to the ethnic conflict, he added.

Due to inefficiency, corruption, fall in income and the mounting expenditure on war, the Sri Lankan government is facing a financial crunch. This is likely to get worse in the future because of a planned rise in defence expenditure.

At last Wednesday's cabinet meeting, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had turned down requests from a number of ministers for more financial allocations, The Sunday Times reported.

A cash strapped Central government had slashed allocations to the Provincial Governments by as much as 60%, the paper said. This would affect on-going grass roots level projects.

In an economy which is highly dependent on tourism, a 23.4% fall in arrivals in the first five months of 2007, and a 40% fall in May,should cause great anxiety. According to the Central Bank, earnings from tourism had fallen by 14.8% in the first four months of this year.

Contributing to the fall in arrivals were factors like travel advisories by Western governments and the closure of the Colombo airport at night in the last three months.

Export of garments has been another major source of income.But due to increased global competition and bad industry practices, 85 factories had to close in 2006 and about 16,000 workers were thrown out of job, Lakbima News reported.

Contributing to the stress in the garment industry is a 35% increase in the Terminal Handling Charge at the Colombo port. Small garment factories, which have been the most vulnerable to hikes in rates and severe competition, have come down from 700 to 350.

As regards the other major export commodity, tea, the Chairman of the Colombo Tea Traders' Association, Tybre Akbarrali, had this to say:"The prevailing situation has not only destroyed the country's image but has become a principal factor for rise of inflation which had a bad impact on the industry during the last year."

Due to the mismatch between the international and domestic oil prices,the state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is running at a loss of LKR (Lanka Rupees) 1360 million.

Sri Lanka is the most militarised county in South Asia with the highest per capita expenditure on defence, according to a Mumbai based think tank. Expenditure on the non-productive defence sector has been growing by leaps and bounds and is set to grow faster. It will pinch the economy when repayment time comes.

According to Jane's Defence Weekly, Sri Lanka has signed a $ 37.6 million deal with China's Poly Technologies. This company would have to be paid a 25% advance, and the balance in ten quarterly instalments. Sri Lanka already owes $ 200 million to another Chinese arms company NORINCO.

Sri Lanka is to buy 3D radars for $ 5 million and five MIG 29s, including a UB trainer to replace the MIG 27s which were bought only in December last year. The manpower in the Security Forces, currently at 250,000, is to be increased by 50,000.

There is really no money to pay for all this. According to The Sunday Times the Secretary to the Treasury has been making this clear.

"The only option that remains is to call upon the public to tighten their belts even further," the paper said. But this is going to betough, as inflation is already at 17%.

The international community should “support the struggle for rights of the Tamil people and force the Sri Lankan Government to implement the ceasefire agreement in full” to bring peace and pave the way for talks, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan, the head of the LTTE Political Division, said in an interview with TamilNet.

Characterizing the "efforts” to bring a united position among the southern parties as the "same old drama" that has gone on throughout the Tamil people’s struggle for their rights, he said only the ceasefire agreement (CFA) can save the island from the disaster. 

Ceasefire Agreement only hope says Tamilselvan.

Welcoming the timely meeting by the Co-chairs in Oslo [early last week], Mr. Tamilselvan said Tamil people have become suspicious as to why there is no firm united stance even among the members of the co-chairs.

Some members are indirectly encouraging Colombo by giving military and economic aid while some others are attempting to implement practical steps to put pressure on the Sri Lankan Government, LTTE's political head said.

"The international community must gain a profound understanding of this long history [of prolonging and time buying tactics by Colombo] and act to end the ethnically biased efforts by the Sinhala leadership. I believe the constructive step by the international community is to accept and support the struggle for rights of the Tamil people and force the Sri Lankan Government to implement the ceasefire agreement 100% to pave the way for peace talks."

On the military situation in the east, Mr. Tamilselvan said, LTTE chooses military strategies to suit the “place, environment and time,” and that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) will soon find out the “trap they have set for themselves.”

The interview in full:

Q: What are your views on the co-chairs meeting in Oslo to discuss the current situation in Sri Lanka?

A: We welcome the co-chairs meeting to discuss issues relating to permanent peace and resolution to the ethnic conflict. The international community has reiterated the futility of the military option and the need for the two sides to return to the negotiating table.

While welcoming this, we point out that the Tamil people are deeply saddened that the international community has not taken any constructive and concrete measures to end the State-sponsored violence against the Tamil people. In particular, nothing has been done to bring an end to the ethnic cleansing, horrendous human rights violations, and the grave human misery that the Tamil people have been subjected to.

Indeed suspicions have arisen among the Tamil people as to why there is no firm united stance even among the co-chairs. The Tamil people are puzzled as to why some countries are indirectly encouraging the Government by giving military and economic aid while some other countries are pressuring the Government to seek a political solution.

Q: What shifts in policy, perception, and approach do you think the international community should adopt to create a climate conducive to permanent peace?

A: The ceasefire agreement brought at least a temporary reprieve to the high intensity war that went on for more than twenty years. This is important because it was the first agreement that came about after a long time with the assistance of the international community. The world supported this agreement unanimously.

This brought hope to the communities affected by the conflict. Yet, due to the competition for power among the Sinhala ruling class, the conducive environment that was created for peace was destroyed. By their actions the ruling class has created confusion about the position of the majority Sinhala people and has brought about a dire situation in this island.

They rejected the very first proposal put forward by the Tamil people for an interim government, and they also destroyed the agreement, after it was signed by the two sides, on a joint structure put forward by the international community, following the tsunami devastation for humanitarian work. Through these the Sinhala chauvinistic leadership has destroyed any remaining hope among the Tamil people.

International community must seriously view the long history of the Tamil struggle and act to end the ethnically biased efforts by the Sinhala leadership. I believe the constructive step by the international community is to accept and support the struggle for rights of the Tamil people and force the Sri Lankan Government to implement the ceasefire agreement 100% to pave the way for peace talks.

Q: The International community, in particular the USA, thinks that a common agreement must be reached among the Southern political parties and through this form the basis for negotiations with the LTTE. Is this possible? Is this the right strategy? 

A: As far as the southern political parties are concerned there has never been the practice of following party policies. They jump from party to party to seek power and for financial benefits.

The current “efforts” to bring a united position among the southern parties is the same drama that has gone on throughout the Tamil people’s struggle for their rights. Finding a solution has never been the motive of these “efforts”. The latest “efforts” too will not produce the desired outcome of a common agreement.

When decisions have to be made later, these parties will not cooperate towards it. Agreements or solutions will be reached only when those in power act with honesty to find that solution not otherwise.

In addition, whoever newly takes control of the Sri Lankan Government is always interested in a military solution and they are more bent on exploiting the international community for that end. This has always been the pattern.

A point must be emphasized. Sri Lankan Government will never agree to peace talks after strengthening it militarily. On the contrary it will reject peace efforts and ceasefire agreements and will jump into a war saying it is going to bring a resolution through military means. Then after facing heavy losses from which it is unable to pull back it will agree for a peace talks. I do believe that the international community would have understood this pattern of deceptive behaviour of the successive Sinhala Governments.

The latest ceasefire agreement, which the international community believed will deliver a solution, was the result of military and economic difficulties faced by the Sinhala Government. Therefore, hopes to find a solution by militarily strengthening the Sri Lankan Government and thus destroy the Tamil collective and thus their struggle for freedom will always remain a daydream.

Firstly, there has never been a history where a Sri Lankan Government has come down and agreed for talks or peace efforts in such a situation. Secondly, a solution found through such a means will not be a just solution to an affected and oppressed people.

Q: Sections of Southern leadership and clergy are advancing the idea that peace can be brought about by militarily weakening the LTTE. What is your position on this?

A: Tamil people have been fighting for their rights for the last 60 years. Initially, Tamil people did not choose military means for their freedom struggle. They took forward their struggle through non-violence for thirty years. Sinhala leadership could have put forward a solution to the ethnic problem during these thirty years.

There was never an open minded humanitarian approach to this problem by the Sinhala leadership. On the contrary, ethnic cleansing and ethnic genocide were visited on the people. Many thousands of Tamil people were killed and hundreds of thousands of Tamil were chased from their land, in effect a huge human misery was created.

It was in this environment that our freedom movement was born. Only when their struggle by peaceful and democratic means was broken and military violence was let loose to wipe out the people, the people took up armed struggle as self defense. People of Tamil Elam did not wish to create this situation. This was forced by the Sinhala violence.

If the issue of the rights of the Tamil people has captured the world attention, it is only because of the dedicated military strength of the Tamil people. Therefore, Tamil people will never allow the military strength that was built up step by step as self defense to be weakened. The Sinhala leadership knowing this well repeats this proposition again and again solely to buy time and opportunity from the international community to intensify their ethnic genocide and destroy the rights of Tamils.

It is only when the Sinhala leadership understands, the true aspirations of the Tamil people, that the military strength of the Tamil people is not against the Sinhala nation or the Sinhala people, that it was built as self defense to protect their homeland, and that only when Tamil people create the environment where they too can live with security, freedom and self respect, this island will become a violence free peaceful place.

Q: Certain countries that are rejecting a military solution and emphasizing a political solution, are also taking actions against representatives of Tamils and the LTTE. As the conflict now plays out on a domestic and international platform, how does this impact the issue of Tamil representation?

A: Hundreds of thousands of our people chased out from their home are living in several countries. They help their kith and kin in this island who have suffered immense misery. It is a real tragedy that humanitarian concern and the natural affinity between kith and kin are smeared with labels of assisting ‘terrorism.’

Neither the Tamil people nor their representatives have broken the laws of the countries where they reside when carrying out their political or humanitarian work. They do their work to achieve their aspirations by respecting the people and their governments of these countries.

After the tsunami devastation, during the peace efforts, and when an ethnic violence is let loose on their people, expatriate Tamils worked tirelessly for their brethren in the Tamil homeland. Smearing this work they do to help their kith and kin with terrorism is not only distressing the Tamil people, it will also encourage the Sinhala chauvinists to intensify their violence.

Q: How accurate is the claim by the Sri Lankan Army that the LTTE has been evicted from the East, and this eviction translates into SLA military superiority?

A: As far as the LTTE is concerned we were never defeated. We adopt military strategies to suit the place, the environment and the time. In particular, in the east it is common for the Sinhala forces to advance and then withdraw when faced with heavy losses following our strong defense. This is the past history.

No people will accept the occupation of their land by a foreign force or a force that they detest. They will always seek their own security. Very soon the Sinhala forces will understand the trap they have set for themselves.

Faced with the prospect of more parliamentarians defecting to the breakaway Sri Lanka Freedom Party (Mahajana Wing) founded by sacked cabinet minister Mangala Samaraweera, President Mahinda Rajapaksa last Friday threatened to dissolve parliament and seek a fresh mandate.

According to media reports, Rajapaksa told a special meeting of ministers and senior SLFP leaders that the situation was "worsening day by day" with the breakaway group under former minister Mangala Samaraweera trying to form a common opposition front and begin agitations.

The threat came after Samaraweera said that 15 to 20 MPs from the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) might join the SLFP (MW).

Rajapaksa said that if the threat from the combined opposition mounted, he might have no option but to dissolve parliament and seek a fresh mandate.

That Rajapaksa cannot take his party men for granted any more was evident in the way SLFP MPs reacted to Samaraweera's vituperative attack on the Rajapaksa regime and the "Rajapaksa Brothers" in parliament earlier this week, the Hindustan Times reported.

“No SLFP MP rose to contradict Samaraweera or defend the government,” the paper said.

“This suggested the possibility that if Samaraweera's SLFP(MW) grew in influence, some SLFP MPs and even Ministers might be tempted to defect to it,” the paper said.

The political atmosphere in Sri Lanka is becoming unfavourable for Rajapaksa with the opposition United National Party (UNP) making serious charges against the government and publicly proposing an alliance with the SLFP (MW).

UNP General Secretary and parliamentarian Tissa Attanayake told a news conference the UNP was inviting all democratic political parties to team up with it in the struggle against the government.

Mr. Attanayake, who participated in talks between the UNP and SLFP (MW), said the two parties decided to appoint a joint committee to study Mr. Samaraweera’s policy statement titled ‘Daring to dream towards a new Sri Lankan order.’

Separately, the spiralling cost of living has alienated the urban population, and there is also unbridled high-level corruption and abductions for extortions in the capital Colombo.

Rajapaksa hopes to pacify his critics by taking corrective economic measures. The contours of these measures will be presented as a document to the SLFP's 17th General Convention on July 21.

The state-owned Daily News quoted the General Secretary of the SLFP, Maithripala Sirisena, as saying that the new proposals would cover a wide range of national problems, with special reference to agriculture, the mainstay of the rural economy.

Two former ministers of the main ruling party in Sri Lanka launched a new political party last week, and the main opposition is exploring the possibility of an alliance.

Separately, the country’s Sinhala nationalist Marxists called for the new party to join an alliance with it.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party- Mahajana Wing (SLFP(MW)) or 'Peoples' Wing' was formally launched last Friday, by ousted former ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi.

They announced the formation of the new party after crossing over to sit in opposition benches last Tuesday, deepening divisions in the ruling coalition. Samaraweera invited former President Chandrika Kumaratunga to come back from "political retirement" and "guide" the SLFP (MW) and the country.

After talks with the SLFP (MW), the main opposition United National Party (UNP) said the next three months would be a decisive period for the country because of a series of politically significant events.

UNP General Secretary and parliamentarian Tissa Attanayake told a news conference the UNP was inviting all democratic political parties to team up with it in the struggle against the government.

The party said some government Ministers had already agreed to join forces with the opposition to form a broad political alliance against dictatorship. “We will not give the names of these Ministers right now. But, there will be crucial political developments within the next few months,” Attanayake said.

He said the two parties decided to appoint a joint committee to study Samaraweera’s policy statement titled ‘Daring to dream towards a new Sri Lankan order.’

Meanwhile the Marxists Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was reportedly planning to invite Samaraweera to join forces with them for a broad alliance against the government.

The invitation was to be made at a meeting this week and the UNP was not being invited to join the alliance, the Daily Mirror reported.

In an interview with the Daily Mirror, JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said they had planned to form a broad front even by including disgruntled members from the government as well as the UNP.

Mr. Silva said they would never opt for an alliance with the UNP, which he cited as a party without solutions to the major problems confronting the nation today.

“We want to form a broad front. Even government members who are disappointed with the present system can join us. It is a front open to all progressive and patriotic forces. Mr. Samaraweera should also join it, but not the UNP,” he said.

The SLFP (MW) was launched with an offering of flowers at the memorial of SLFP founder Solomon Bandaranaike, the father of Kumaratunga, at the family's ancestral home in Horagalla.

Samaraweera was a close ally of Kumaratunga, but was sacked by President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is from the SLFP, along with Sooriyaarachchi and Anura Bandaranaike, Kumaratunga's brother earlier in the year.

Anura Bandaranaike rejoined the government.

Samaraweera made a 'private statement' in parliament last Wednesday, claiming that the ruling coalition has betrayed the "principles and political philosophy" of the SLFP.

"They have rejected the party's centrist policies and are taking our country in an extreme direction," Samaraweera told the speaker in a letter prior to his speech.

"We are totally opposed to this path of extremism and in order to protect the principles of the SLFP we shall represent the Mahajana Wing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party."

Media reactions to the formation of the SLFP (MW) have been cynical.

In the media's view, the SLFP (MW) doesn't look as if it will make a difference to the political scene, the Hindustan Times reported.

“But at the same time, it is acknowledged that President Mahinda Rajapaksa may be a worried man,” the paper said.

“The prospect of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga's coming back to active politics through the SLFP (MW) and leading a combined SLFP (MW)-Opposition assault on the government, does disturb him.”

During his address to the parliament, Samaraweera made an appeal to the former president, and daughter of the SLFP’s founder, to come back from “political retirement” and join hands with the new party to usher a new era in Sri Lanka.

The Daily Mirror described Samaraweera's move as "disruptive" at a time, when the crying the need was political unity to face the "multifaceted crisis" facing Sri Lanka. The split in the ruling party would only "push the country towards greater instability" the paper warned in an editorial.

Questioning the motives of the defecting duo, former Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathy Sooriyarachchi, the paper said that the "crux of the matter appears to revolve around ministerial positions and personal vendettas."

The Island daily said in its editorial that the defection and the emergence of a new political outfit would only help the LTTE.

"Their (the defectors') game plan is clear: While the LTTE is targeting the government on the war front, the dissidents and the UNP (the opposition United National Party ) will engage it on the political front."

Noting that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is getting rattled these days, the paper advised him to stay cool, as any rash reaction would only help the detractors and the LTTE.

It asked him to concentrate on good governance, because the success or failure of SLFP (MW) would depend on his ability or inability to govern the country.

But as of now, The Island is not sanguine about the SLFP (MW)'s prospects. It would "lose its magic" after its ceremonial launching on Friday, it predicted.

The Tamil daily Thinakkural went along with Samaraweera on his description of the sordid state of affairs in Sri Lanka, but it did not relish the prospect of former President Kumaratunga's leading the SLFP (MW).

In her 11 year rule, which ended in December 2005, Kumaratunga did not achieve anything concrete, Thinakkural said. She only confused issues to the detriment of Sri Lankans, it said.

However, Thinkkural notes that Rajapaksa is less wary and apprehensive about Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Leader of the Opposition and his formal rival, than he is about Kumaratunga, a retired politician. Many of Rajapaksa's actions betray apprehensions about a Kumaratunga come back, the paper points out.

Political circles say that Rajapaksa feels that Kumaratunga may be having her loyalists in parliament and the Council of Ministers, even now. They also say that disgruntlement is widespread in the SLFP and the government, the Hindustan Time noted.

They point out that during Samaraweera's highly vituperative speech in parliament on Wednesday, none from the ruling party ventured to challenge him. The stony silence was pregnant with meaning, they felt, the paper said.

However, several ministers told the media that the SLFP ( MW) posed no danger to the government. Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said that there was no likelihood of Kumaratunga's coming back to active politics.

Sri Lanka’s hardline government this week dismissed international calls for it to seek a peace process with the Tamil Tigers and as senior government ministers criticized international pressure, the military stepped up military operations against the LTTE.

In the wake of a meeting last week of the United States, European Union, Japan and Norway, the four donors backing the now drifting Oslo-led peace process, Sri Lankan and Indian media reported that President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government had asked Norway to help resume direct talks with the Tigers.

Norway also reiterated its readiness to facilitate. Oslo’s special envoy for Sri Lanka, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, telling Reuters: “We are ready to resume (mediation efforts) if the government wants us to. We are committed to our role as facilitator and we are ready to carry out that role as soon as the parties want us to do that.”

But this week the Colombo government quashed the reports, saying there was no change in its stance and that it would not halt military operations and allow the LTTE, which it described as weakened, to regroup and rearm.

And the Norwegian embassy in Colombo also came out to deny rumours Oslo was about to resume facilitation.

"There is no such visit [to LTTE headquarters] planned for the near future, all these stories are speculation," Embassy spokesperson Erik Nurenberg told The Morning Leader.

The paper, quoting European diplomatic sources, reported Wednesday that the Norwegians however, also have no immediate plans to request the government for security clearance to visit Kilinochchi. They said that a visit by Hanssen-Bauer could take place some time later if both sides show a willingness to accommodate.

Sri Lanka’s Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told the weekly defence briefing at the Media Centre for National Security that is no need to make a fresh initiative as the peace process stands as it is.

There is no shift in the government policy as far as the peace process is concerned and the government will not allow the Tigers make use of the Peace Process to re-arm and re-group and attack civilians and security forces, he said.

Government ministers also attacked the international community’s pressure.

Minister Rambukwella singled out the UK and the US, saying these countries are trying to show the world that they are superior democracies, but actually they don’t practice what they preach.

“They are talking about human rights violations here but ignoring what the LTTE has been doing for the last three decades, brutally massacring thousands of civilians and security forces personnel.”

Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle rejected the US government’s call for the Army-backed paramilitary outfit, the Karuna Group, must be disarmed.

“Richard Boucher (Asst. Secretary of State for South Asia and the Middle East) has said the Sri Lankan government must disarm the Karuna Faction. Why haven’t they asked to disarm the LTTE? Both are terrorists groups,” he asked.

Meanwhile the Sri Lankan government bar on visits by international diplomats, including Peace Envoys, to LTTE areas continues.

Two prior visits planned by Norwegian ambassador Hans Brattskar were cancelled due to the absence of security guarantees from the government. A similar visit by the deputy British High Commissioner too was cancelled for the same reason.

Despite the government’s reluctance to give security clearance, the Tigers have said that they could guarantee the safety of visiting diplomats from beyond Omanthai. "We can look after them, there is no issue," Tiger military spokesperson Rasiah Illanthirayan said.

The absence of international shuttle diplomacy alone indicates a resumption of the peace process is not likely.

This week Minister Rambukwella told reporters: “If people like Jon- Hansen Bauer want to move to Kilinochchchi to meet the Tigers, we have to caution them that they can’t do it the way they did it in the past.”

Measnwhile Sri Lanka Air Force jets on Wednesday carried out a second straight day of bombing raids against LTTE positions in jungles in the east of the island, the military said.

The raids were part of a months-old effort aimed at dislodging the Tigers from bases in Thoppigala, an area around the eastern lagoon town of Batticaloa.

Taking and retaining Thoppigala will be costly, both in men and material, the Hindustan Times this week quoted independent military experts as saying.

But since the Sri Lankan government is hell bent on militarily defeating the LTTE, it would go ahead regardless of the cost, they added.

LTTE spokesman Ilanthirayan told Tamilnet recently that the Sri Lankan Army was walking into a "trap" as the LTTE's withdrawals were "strategic" in nature.

He admitted that the Sri Lanka Army had entered the Thoppigala area, but maintained that only the future would be able to say if the government's assertions were well founded.

As regards the LTTE's plans he said: "At the moment we can only say that we are recasting our plans for the East."

The much anticipated meeting last week of the quartet overseeing the 'peace process' in Sri Lanka has, unsurprisingly, delivered little substance. There wasn't even a joint statement from the US, EU, Japan and Norway afterwards. There have been vague suggestions of demands for a resumption of peace efforts. The Sunday Times says the Co-Chairs representatives had been 'very critical' of the state of affairs in Sri Lanka. But, tellingly, no concrete action was agreed on. Little wonder - given the diverse and utterly contradictory approaches of the quartet. It is clear that some European countries are dismayed by Sri Lanka's inexorable decline anew into nasty conflict - marked prominently again by indiscriminate and vicious violence against civilians. But other powers are more concerned with their own economic interests or the coherence of the '(global) war on terror.' The demonstrable contempt with which the Sri Lankan government has responded to the Co-Chairs' calls for peace efforts says it all: the international community is, collectively, going to do absolutely nothing to restrain the state's violence.

It has been a while since the Co-Chairs last came together. There was that ambassadorial level event earlier in the year. But what stands out now is the thundering statement that came out after the high-level meeting in November last year. The Co-Chairs then viewed "with alarm the rising level of violence in Sri Lanka that has led to significant loss of life and widespread human rights violations." There was a specific call, too: "We call on both sides to seize the historic opportunity created by the 2002 Cease-Fire Agreement to resolve the country's conflict peacefully. Only by committing to sustained and substantive negotiations can the downward spiral of hostilities and human rights violations be reversed."

But at the same time, the US representative, Under Secretary for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns observed: "I'd just say on behalf of the United States that we have faith in the government and faith in the President [Mahinda Rajapakse] of Sri Lanka. They do want to make peace. We also believe that the LTTE is a terrorist group responsible for massive bloodshed in the country and we hold the Tamil Tigers responsible for much of what has gone wrong in the country." If there was any doubt, he also declared: "We are not neutral in this respect. We support the government."

Those statements outline the context in which the international community's commitment to promoting peace or to restraining Sri Lanka's racially motivated violence ought to be viewed. It should be recalled that at the time of that Co-Chairs meet last November, the Sri Lankan military was continuing a massive onslaught against Tamil Tigers, one which killed and wounded hundreds of Tamil civilians and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes. There was absolute confidence amongst a great many international observers the LTTE could be wiped out. It is also worth keeping in mind that this year the US has increased arms sales from $2m to $60m while Britain has sold as much in arms as London donated in post-tsunami aid. Japan's Peace Envoy Yasushi Akashi last month emphatically ruled out cutting aid to Colombo.

The Co-Chairs dissatisfaction with the Sri Lankan government has more to do with clumsy execution of the 'war on terror' than with any principled commitment to resolving Tamil grievances. The confidence that President Rajapakse's military solution inspired has dissipated somewhat - the armed forces are unable to breach the Vanni, despite relentless bombardment and the east remains volatile despite being 'captured' (or to use the parlance the Co-Chairs also adopted last year, being 'cleared') and, meanwhile, the emergence of a Sinhala nationalist emerging not as a viewpoint but the overarching order of things in which Tamils, Muslims and foreigners know their place.

The Tamils know some countries are making a principled commitment to human rights and humanitarian law. But the overarching logic of international engagement in Sri Lanka is self-interest and real politik driven. This is not a howl of moral protest, but acknowledgement of why Tamil suffering continues after so many decades. International interests are achieved through relationships with the state - that means with the Sinhala leadership. As long as Sri Lanka's leaders can convince international community of the efficacy of a military solution, they will receive the financial, military and political support to pursue it. In contrast, in the absence of violent rebellion against the state, why would any of the international community's diverse interests be furthered by standing up against the Sinhala leaders on behalf of the rights of Tamils?

Even if Norway did not issue a formal statement at the end of the two day meeting of the Donor Co-chairs in Oslo, Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim, the key player in the Sri Lankan peace process was quoted in the Norwegian media as saying that the Co-chairs remain worried. He had said that they had resolved to push forward for the resumption of the peace process.

The Sunday Times learnt that participants made a very critical assessment on a number of issues.

They had included the political situation, the security situation, human rights, the plight of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), kidnappings, killings, abductions in addition to the deteriorating law and order situation.

Many were deeply critical of the way the Government handled the issues and felt the need for immediate action.

Similarly, there was also strong criticism of the LTTE for resorting to violence, violating human rights and for deploying children in conflict.

The Donor Co-chairs, it is learnt, had decided that both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE should be given a detailed debrief of the deliberations and decisions at their Oslo meeting.

The Government is to be debriefed by Ambassador for Germany in Sri Lanka, the controversial Juergen Weerth. He is doing so representing the European Union, of which Germany remains president.

Months ago, Mr. Weerth earned the wrath of the Government for his alleged unprofessional conduct. He was on the verge of being declared persona non grata. However, the envoy was on home leave at that time and no action followed.

The Donor Co-chairs resolved on four major issues. They are:

* There is no military solution for the ethnic conflict. A lasting political solution is possible for the current conflict between the Government and the LTTE. Concerns were expressed on (a) Military operations of the Karuna group in the east. (b) Developments in the east that may lead to an alteration of the ethnic balance. (These concerns are based on the declaration of Mutur-Sampur area as High Security Zones and making Tamil speaking people to leave the area. Added to this was concern over the re-settlement of IDPs by the Government in this area).

* Human rights violations both by the Government and the LTTE must be stopped. Disappearances and abductions committed by all parties, forced recruitment by the LTTE etc. in the long term will not lead to resolving the current problem. The Government of Sri Lanka being party to all major human rights conventions and as a democratically elected Government has more responsibility and a legal obligation to safeguard human rights. The Government should send clear instructions to Police and the Security Forces on the need to maintain human rights. Access to IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) by the INGOs (International Non Governmental Organisations) for delivery of assistance should be provided by the Government in the relevant areas including Wanni.

* If the Government of Sri Lanka accepts Norway as peace facilitator, in order to assist the two parties to come back to the peace process/negotiation table, Oslo should be allowed to meet LTTE hierarchy in Kilinochchi.

* A credible Political Package to address the genuine grievances of the Tamils should be tabled by the Government. The current proposals by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, it was argued, could not be considered "credible." Devolution at the district level will only move the process backwards. If the support of the international community is to be mustered, it was felt that the proposals should be seen to be "credible." Co-chairs hold the view that the parties can be brought to the negotiation table by them provided the commitment to peaceful negotiation comes from the Government.

(Edited)

Mr. Iqbal Athas is the Defence correspondent of the Sunday Times. His analysis appears in the ‘Situation Report’ column.

Human rights organisations have already called for foreign travel bans on Sri Lankan officials implicated in rights abuses