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No more war, CBK ready for ISGA first
President Chandrika Kumaratunga has assured there will be no return to war and the government won't allow itself to be pushed into any military conflict.
Addressing foreign correspondents on Friday night soon after her return from a two-week holiday in Britain, the President also said she was ready to meet the LTTE demands of discussing the Interim Self-Governing Authority proposals first and she was confident that her ally, the JVP, would not disrupt this process despite threats.

The President was remarkably charitable to the LTTE and the JVP. There was a "possibility" of the LTTE coming for talks, she said.
Asked to give reasons for her optimism in the face of every indication that the LTTE was not eager to come to the negotiating table at this juncture, Kumaratunga said the LTTE was not "one person" and that there were the cadres, who were getting tired of war. The Tamil people too would put pressure on Prabhakaran not to go back to the horrors of war.

Then there was the international community, playing a major role, she said. "The European Union has come out with a strong statement against the violence and child recruitment. The LTTE is very sensitive to world opinion," the President said.
"The LTTE has also moved away from exclusivist politics of terror and possibly even from the demand for a separate state," she said.
Asked how soon the LTTE was expected to come back for talks, the President said that with a person like Prabhakaran at the other end, prediction was difficult.

"He tends to go back on his word," she said, and recalled her experience of negotiating with him in 1994-95, which ended with the LTTE breaking the ceasefire.
"We have to remember what he (Prabhakaran) did to Premadasa. He killed him because he did not do exactly what the LTTE wanted him to do," the President said.

"But I do see light at the end of the tunnel," she declared.
The government, on its part, was committed to ensuring that there was no war. "We will not get pushed into any militant conflict. We will do everything in our power to prevent the situation from degrading into military action," she said.
Asked about the LTTE's oft-repeated charge that the Sri Lankan Army had been supporting the anti-Prabhakaran faction led by the former Eastern commander Karuna, the President said that her government did not, and would not, support Karuna.

"Karuna is as much a terrorist as Prabhakaran," she declared.
"Supporting one terrorist against another will only lead us into a vicious cycle." she reasoned.
The army had, at no time, supported Karuna, she claimed. "I had asked the army for evidence of elements within it supporting Karuna. The army could not find any evidence. The LTTE too was asked. But it did not provide evidence," the President said.

On the contrary, it was a UNP leader and former MP, Ali Zaheer Mowlana, who had escorted Karuna to Colombo, she pointed out. "We had earlier arrested Mr. Mowlana for his links with Karuna. But the UNP not only did not check him, but rewarded him with a membership of parliament," she recalled.

Ms. Kumaratunga revealed that when the crisis in the LTTE was looming large after Karuna broke away from Prabhakaran in March this year, the government offered to send its security forces to "flush" Batticaloa town and the entire Batticaloa district, including the LTTE-controlled areas, of people moving around with weapons. But the LTTE did not avail of the offer.

The President said the Karuna revolt was a major problem for Prabhakaran because in the last 25 years, it was only Karuna who had revolted against him and managed to stay alive. Prabhakaran had killed all the earlier dissidents.

Ms. Kumaratunga admitted that the agenda for the peace talks continued to be a problem. She said that the government had come down from its earlier stand and had agreed to discuss the LTTE's proposal for an Interim Administration first, though without damaging the sovereignty and security of the land and people of Sri Lanka. The government had also said that the Interim Council could function for three months, after which talks on a final settlement could begin.

"We will give concessions and make certain compromises," she promised. "But the LTTE is very intransigent. They would not agree to even this," she lamented. "We have gone 75% of the way, but the LTTE would not even cover the rest of the distance," the President said.

Asked what was the maximum she was willing to offer to the LTTE, she said that a variety of federal structures were possible. "These are different forms of federalism and different systems of devolution." The matter would be thrashed out between the government and the LTTE and also in the consultations in the National Reconciliation Council which she was planning to set up.

The President was confident that the JVP would not put a spoke in the wheel or throw a spanner in the works. "The JVP is reasonable at present. It has come a long way from its past rigidity. It has agreed to power-sharing as a means of solving the ethnic conflict," she explained. "We are dialoguing with the JVP. But their responses will depend on the stand of the LTTE at the talks," she cautioned.

Asked whether the JVP was hard to work with generally, she said with a smile: "I am not uncomfortable working with the JVP." "Conflicts and differences are part and parcel of coalition politics. I saw this for myself in France," she said.

Asked about the anti-ISGA and anti-federalist statements being made by the JVP and its veiled threat to withdraw from the government if the LTTE's ISGA was the sole item on the talks agenda, Ms. Kumaratunga said the JVP was doing so to keep its constituency happy. But there was no danger to her government because of this.

"The coalition will last so long as its members find it useful to be in it. It's like marriage, which lasts because both parties find it useful to keep it up," said Ms. Kumaratunga with a knowing smile.

Asked if she was satisfied with Norway's performance as a facilitator of the peace process, the President said: "Yes and no. There are some positives and some negatives. But the positives outweigh the negatives. Nobody is perfect. The Sri Lankan situation is very complicated, calling for a very sophisticated approach."

The President who had just come back from a visit to the UK said she was happy that the CWC had offered her government "unconditional" support. "We welcome support from any quarter," she said.

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