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Chandrika - LTTE Talks: 1994/95 

Sri Lanka Deputy Defence Minister
to LTTE leader

29 December 1994

Colombo
Sri Lanka
29 December 1994

Mr V. Pirabhakaran
LTTE Headquarters
Jaffna

Dear Mr Pirabhakaran,

I acknowledge with thanks your letter of 21 December 1994, transmitted to us through the good offices of the ICRC.

I wish to emphatically state that in my letter of 19 December, we requested a clarification of some specific points re. the commencement of peace talks, for the following reasons:

(a) In my letter sent to you in the first week of December, I set out several points, requesting your views. You had responded to several of these but remained silent re. points two and five which specified our government’s view on the peace negotiations. We stated therein that we clearly saw a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to peace talks which should commence immediately after a declaration of a cessation.

Your non-response re. this crucial matter caused concern to our government. As you are aware our government always believed that the peace process should lead on to political negotiations, the final objective of which should be the meaningful political solution of the ethnic conflict. This would obviously have to identify and alleviate the causes of the prevailing war, in order to ‘end the armed conflict or the civil war’.

(b) This does not in any way change our government’s commitment to ‘alleviate the hardships of daily life presently experienced by the people of the northeast’ as also stated by Mr Balapatabendi, the leader of the government delegation to Jaffna last October.

It is to this end that our government lifted the embargo on 28 items considered essential for the daily life of the inhabitants of the north within two weeks of assuming power.

It is also because of this policy that our delegation on their first visit to Jaffna, discussed matters re. the amelioration of the civil life of the people. Matters such as the reconstruction of the north, the repair of roads, irrigation works, schools, hospitals, the supply of electricity, the opening of a roadway to and from Jaffna, etc. were discussed.

Your delegation specified certain priorities. At the second round of talks, our delegation was prepared to present the items which the government could immediately undertake to implement. The delay in doing this was due to reasons beyond our control, as we stated in a previous letter to you. The mass assassinations of the leader of the opposition and over 50 others in Colombo, compelled us to suspend discussions with the LTTE.

We are surprised and disappointed that while being fully aware of these facts, you attempt to represent the situation when you state in your letter that we are deliberately shifting our position with the intention of ‘circumventing the most crucial and immediate issues that beset our people today...’ You also say that our government took no action to redress the grievances of the people of the north.

I reiterate once more that our government’s commitment to provide the basic utilities for civil life, to restore normalcy to the northeast and to develop it in the same manner as the rest of Sri Lanka, has not changed or lessened in any way.

To try to imply this is unjustified and could prove harmful to the mutual understanding that we are attempting to build up at such cost and with so much difficulty.

(c) The primary objective of our government is to find political solutions to the ethnic problem, to end the armed conflict/the war, and establish lasting peace in our country, and build a new Sri Lanka where all its people - Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher, could live as equal citizens with dignity and in peace and harmony.

To find political solutions, we have to talk, to dialogue, to commence talks or negotiations.

(d) The alleviation of the hardships faced by the people of the northeast, the cessation of armed hostilities between the government and the LTTE, are all preliminaries - essential no doubt, which should simultaneously lead on to the primary objective - which is the formulation of a political package of solutions to end the war and to resolve the problem of the Tamil people of the northeast of Sri Lanka.

We insisted on receiving your response to this view of our government as your views on this particular and crucial issue were not clearly stated in your correspondence with us. In your reply to these issues, in your letter dated 22 December, you express your views more specifically when you state that ‘the peace process should be advanced in stages... should address the pressing problems and hardships encountered by our people’, etc.

As there seems to be agreement by us both on this issue, I propose the following for our future negotiations:-

1. Our delegation could visit Jaffna on 2 January 1995 for a one-day discussion.
   
2. The discussion would take up the following major issues
   
   (i) A cessation of hostilities to be declared from 7 or 8 January 1995 for an initial period of two weeks.The modalities of the cessations hostilities to be agreed upon.
   
   (ii) The work of reconstruction, opening up of a roadway, etc., aimed at ameliorating the conditions of daily life of the people of the northeast.
   
   (iii) Decide upon dates for the commencement of the second part of the peace negotiations - i.e. the discussion of the possible political solutions to the problems of the people of the northeast - i.e. issues re. political power, the units of administration and related matters.

I take this opportunity to wish you a happy 1995 that would usher in peace and prosperity to our country.

Thanking you,
Sincerely,

Col. Anuruddha Ratwatte
Deputy Minister of Defence

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