[TamilNet, December 09, 2004 14:19 GMT] "The danger in the present situation is the possibility of escalation that suddenly goes out of control of both sides and plunges the country into inadvertent war...We also call upon the two parties to make a concerted effort to ensure that the safeguards in the Ceasefire Agreement are  functional," said the National Peace Council, in a press release issued in Colombo Thursday.

Full Text of the press release follows:  In recent weeks there were increased clashes and tensions involving  government forces, the LTTE and the general population. For the first time  since the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement in February 2002 the highway connecting Jaffna to the rest of the country was closed to traffic due to the  inability of the international monitors to take up their positions at the  checkpoints. There were confrontations between rival Tamil and Sinhalese  nationalist groups over the hoisting of different flags. In addition there has  been negative speech making that has also contributed to the rise in ethnic tensions.

The danger in the present situation is the possibility of escalation that  suddenly goes out of control of both sides and plunges the country into inadvertent war. There is always the possibility that events in a particular  location could take a turn for the worse, and lead to large scale violence. Some of the statements being made by spokespersons of the LTTE and the  government, particularly its JVP component, have not been helpful. They have been saying that the LTTE is prepared for war, that it has already achieved its separate state and that the south too could erupt with a people's uprising. There appears to be a belief that the threat of war and violence  may move the one side to deal more favourably with the other side.  However, this is likely to be a mistaken assumption. Instead a mental climate is being created in which the people on both sides are being  conditioned to a resumption of war.

The National Peace Council calls upon the government and LTTE to halt  the drift in the peace process and to resume peace talks which they publicly  profess they are committed to doing. A special responsibility is placed upon President Chandrika Kumaratunga who dissolved the previous government  on the grounds that it was not dealing satisfactorily with the peace process. We note that the Norwegian facilitator Erik Solheim is to visit Sri Lanka ext week and we urge both sides to make use of his presence to further  the peace process. It is clear that the LTTE's proposals for an ISGA will  have to be the major component of such talks, as they are the most  concrete proposal that has been made since the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement. It is also clear that negotiating on the ISGA does not mean  accepting them in full, as indeed the LTTE leadership has publicly said. 

 We also call upon the two parties to make a concerted effort to ensure that  the safeguards in the Ceasefire Agreement are functional. There are areas  of vulnerability and potential confrontation especially in the multi ethnic east.  The chief amongst the safeguards would be to strengthen the role of the  international monitors and to hold regular meetings between the Sri Lankan   military and LTTE leaders at the local level. It is a cause for concern that most of these meetings are being postponed. The strengthening of mechanisms of dialogue and monitoring would do much to prevent a drift   towards an inadvertent war, the worst costs of which will be borne by the most powerless sections of our population. It is therefore essential that the  mechanisms for preventing a resumption of war in the Ceasefire  Agreement should be strengthened as a first priority.

Courtesy: Tamilnet.Com