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The LTTE was likely to accept the government’s stand that the two warring parties could engage in negotiations in Sri Lanka or abroad amidst fighting in the North-East, authoritative sources said yesterday. The LTTE has no option but to come for talks, the sources said. Since the Norwegian effort got underway some time ago, the LTTE has repeatedly demanded that there must be a cease-fire on the ground before the two parties sit down for talks. After failing to force the government to agree for a truce, the LTTE declared a 30-day unilateral cease-fire on December 24 last year and then extended it again. "The LTTE is under tremendous pressure abroad to engage in a dialogue with the government," an official said yesterday stressing that talks would not jeopardise the ground situation in the northern theatre as long as there was no cease-fire, at least on the part of the government. President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar reiterated the government’s stand when they met the Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim on January 31 during his most recent visit here. Solheim also met the Opposition and the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. The sources said that the UNP believes that there was nothing wrong in declaring a cease-fire ahead of the proposed talks. The military said that recent battlefield reversals in the Jaffna theatre forced the LTTE to come for talks. If the LTTE managed to tighten their grip on the 140 square km salient they held near the Jaffna town, they would not have even considered any negotiations, a senior security force officer said. The "salient" captured during April-May battles that forced the army out of the area could have been used as a springboard to mount offensives against forces in the Vadamarachchy and Waligamam, he pointed out. The LTTE lost most of the territories they captured during the same period as a result of security forces operations carried out in the Kilaly-Muhamalai area. The sources said that the government has assured the security forces top brass that the proposed talks would not jeopardise the ongoing security forces operations.
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