The government on Thursday refrained from commenting on an unpublished book by LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham where he says that the LTTE has not given up the right to secede.
Cabinet spokesman and Minister Mangala Samaraweera questioned about the LTTE’s position at the Cabinet press briefing, said that he cannot comment until such time the book entitled "War and Peace", is read.
"I presume he is talking about the situation that prevailed at that time".
The pro-LTTE website Tamilnet which has reproduced Balasingham’s book comments, quotes him as saying that a joint statement after a round of talks between the LTTE and government in Oslo in December 2002, had been misunderstood and misinterpreted as the LTTE abandoning the right to break away.
"The LTTE’s decision to explore federalism does not entail an unconditional abandonment of the Tamils right to external self-determination and secession", he says.
Asked about the LTTE’s rejection of the government’s counter proposals on the ISGA, Samaraweera said that all proposals have to be ready when negotiations commence.
"We can discuss both the ISGA and government proposals. This could be the starting point. The UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has spoken of a third set of proposals. So all of this can be looked at when talks commence", he added.
