Sri Lanka PM mulls lifting Tamil ban

The newly-elected government is keen to begin talks aimed at ending 18 years of civil war

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- The Sri Lankan government says it is "seriously considering" lifting a ban on the Tamil Tiger rebels to help jumpstart peace talks.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made the announcement in the federal Parliament Tuesday in a bid to draw the separatist rebels to the negotiating table.

"We are seriously considering lifting of the ban only on condition that we get an honest commitment from the rebels," he said.

Wickremesinghe was elected to power in late 2001 with a pledge to begin talks on ending more than 18 years of conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as the Tigers are formally known. However the Tigers leadership has refused to engage in any negotiations unless a 1998 ban imposed on them by the government is lifted.

The rebel group, which is fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils, was banned after an attack on Sri Lanka's most sacred Buddhist shrine in 1998.

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The suicide bombing killed 26 people and outraged the majority Sinhalese.

Wickremesinghe said that any easing of the 1998 banning on the LTTE would have no implications for the international ban on group.

The rebels are also outlawed in India, the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada.

Sensitive issue

Pressure to lift the ban has been growing since Wickremesinghe's election victory in November last year.

The previous administration of President Chandrika Kumaratunga favored a military solution to the island's civil war which has cost more than 64,000 lives.

But the lifting of the ban remains a sensitive issue in this island where the majority Sinhalese community generally do not favor giving concessions to the rebels.

"We should think deeply if we are to allow the issue of the domestic ban on the LTTE to hold up the peace process and let go of this final opportunity to have peace," Wickremesinghe said.

He said Sri Lanka was at a crucial moment to end years of war, which he described as a make or break opportunity.

"The objective of the LTTE in setting up a separate state in the northeast by chasing away the security forces has not succeeded," he said.

"Likewise, we have not been successful in completely eliminating the LTTE through a military solution."

Bankrupt

Wickremesinghe said decades of fighting had drained the country's coffers noting that the cost of financing the war last year was more than 80 billion rupees (nearly one billion dollars).

"The country is near bankruptcy."

"There has been no significant foreign direct investment and production is in a parlous state ... never before have the country and our people faced problems of this nature," Wickremesinghe said.

He also appealed to political rivals not to put malice into a "an honest effort."

"We should not trifle with this final opportunity in achieving peace," he said. "We have no right to do so. To do so will be the greatest betrayal of our people.

His comments came a day after the rebels announced the release of 10 Sri Lankan prisoners, including the crewmembers of a ship they seized three year ago.

The 10 men, whom the rebels called prisoners of war, were handed over to relatives on Monday, a rebel radio broadcast said.

Truce extended

Wickremesinghe's suggestion that the ban on Tigers could be lifted is being seen as part of a series of confidence-building measures to launch the talks.

On Monday, both sides agreed to extend a truce until February 24, amid hopes that mediators from the Norwegian government would broker lasting peace in the island nation.

On January 15, the government lifted 7-year-old economic sanctions on areas held by the Tamil Tiger rebels and allowed trucks to head to the northern jungles carrying a range of previously banned goods.

The rebels have been fighting to divide the island into Tamil and Sinhalese nations, saying Tamils -- who comprise 3.2 million of Sri Lanka's population of 18.6 million -- can prosper only away from the domination of the Sinhalese.

The war has killed more than 64,500 people and displaced more than 1.6 million.