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A way out of the prevailing bottle-neck in restarting the peace-talks between the Sri Lanka Government and the LTTE must be found in the greater interest of the country.

The intransigence, belligerence and the adamancy with regard to the proposal of interim administration on the part of the LTTE must be perceived with the prospective and perspective of flexibility and elasticity, in the process of future negotiations that is to be pursued.

Neither the Government nor the LTTE can ever afford to pursue an internecine war, the end result of which is nothing but destruction and annihilation of men and material, the leader of the Ashraff Congress S. Subairdeen said in a press statement yesterday.

In the history of militancy and insurgency resulting in the form of guerrilla warfare in the world over the empirical evidence is that it is a natural phenomenon for the protagonist to forward proposal which are tough and rigid in its nature. This is well evident in the case of ElSalvador, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Angola and Zimbabwe as well as Mindano in Philippine.

We have seen in our past experience that the intransigent attitude held before embarking into a negotiation could be adjusted, reformed and modified after involving into an effectively convincing negotiation. This is a matter mainly depend on mutual understanding and interaction with a spirit of compromise to accommodate the aspiration of the concerned parties.

It is a known fact that anything that is not flexible tends to be broken. Let us hope that there will be calm after the storm. In the meantime, as a matter of clarification, a duty is cast upon the LTTE to check with their conscience whether their ISGA proposals are in accordance with the resolution adopted in Oslo Peace Talk in December 2002.

It is an appreciable sign to note that the political wing leader of the LTTE S. P. Thamilchelvam has recently made a statement, wherein he has urged the Government to expedite the peace negotiation on a humanitarian basis rather than on political agenda.

It is pertinent to note that he has also stated that the ISGA proposal must always address the aspiration of the people. Therefore we can see a silver-line in the cloudy horizon of the peace talk that may shed more light for the future negotiation.

While being mindful of the Norwegian effort to bring the LTTE to the negotiating table, we have to recognize the fact that an acceptable permanent solution cannot be achieved without an active and positive participation of our neighbouring India - a super-power in South Asia, which is directly or indirectly is affected in one way or other, by the political events, actions or inactions of the Sri Lankan Government for the logical and inescapable reason of its geographical proximity and the historical interlink between the two neighbours. It is said that the far distant water cannot quench the thirst.

Therefore we urge the President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to make use of her good office to persuade India to play a major role in the peace negotiation.

Today the, cynosure of the nation is the President. The President is the personification of the sovereignty of the nation. She symbolizes the dignity, solidarity and the unity of the nation. The President has been elected by the will of the nation.

As per the Constitution, she is the head of the State, Government and the nation. She is the President of all the people of the whole country. Her position demands that she acts beyond the narrow boundaries of the sectarian party politics.

As the commander of the nation she needs the cooperation of each and every citizen to achieve the objective of much awaited peace.

If the Opposition is sincere and genuine in a perceivable peace settlement, then it is their onerous responsibility to extend their unreserved support and co-operation to the President enabling her to perform the Herculean task of bringing peace to the country.

This is an urgent need of the hour, our nation expect from every son and daughter of this country. As for the President she has to act as a national Leader with an international mind.

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