President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga at a press conference for Foreign Correspondents at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday evening said that the government would go ahead with the peace efforts despite the LTTE disruptions with violent attacks, and that any de-escalation of her government's security operations would coincide with negotiations with the separatist rebels.

  "We are determined to go forward. Whatever the LTTE may want to do we are committed to solve the minorities' problem, because today the majority of Tamils in the country too want an end to this protracted war. Whether our peace proposals will ever solve Prabhakaran's personal problems we don't know. The LTTE may be committed to violence and terror, but we are deeply and honestly committed to the democratic process," Kumaratunga said.

  President Kumaratunga said that she was happy that the UNP had come forward to the negotiating process. Dates have been fixed for March and April for further negotiations and discussions to arrive at a consensual agreement regarding the unit of devolution and connected matters before the final draft is presented to the LTTE.

  "We shall work on a time frame with the UNP as well as the LTTE. We do not believe in procrastination".

  When asked whether the present ban imposed on the LTTE will hinder the holding talks the President said that she did not see any difficulty about that since in several other countries it has been the practice to negotiate with banned organizations with a view to achieving the goal of peace.

  Referring to an LTTE leader receiving treatment in Norway, President Kumaratunga revealed that as soon as the government gave permission to Norway to treat him, the LTTE attempted to assassinate her. He is now recovering from an operation and in a way owes his life to her magnanimous gesture.

  President Kumaratunga clearly stated that the government would not enter talks unconditionally. "We will also have our own set of conditions. We will never agree to completely withdraw our Armed Forces from the battlefront. That is out of the question. However, we will have a de-escalation in our military operations while the talks with the LTTE are on."

  "We believe that a Constitution of a country cannot stand in the way of a majority of the people. A constitution is only valid as long as the people of the country are behind it. We could have gone ahead for a non binding referendum, when we got a 51 per cent mandate from the people to change the constitution".

  The government is committed to democracy and strongly believe in consensual governance, she said. That has been the reason for an open invitation to the UNP to discuss the constitutional amendments before presenting the peace proposals to the LTTE.

  President Kumaratunga stated that amidst all the bitter false accusations that were hurled towards her and her family, she did a lot of emotional sacrifice to treat them as secondary as the welfare of the country mattered most.

Answering a question as to what level of representative the government will send to head the delegation for peace talks with the LTTE, the President said that this depended on who is heading their delegation.

  "Prabhakaran is not a Head of State, but if Prabhakaran is heading the LTTE in talks at least a Minister will head our delegation."

  Replying to a question about JVP oppostion to Norwegian facilitation, regarding whether the government will still go along with the Norwegians as facilitators, the President said that because of the strong belief of democracy, the majority of the people are with the government.

  On the question of the abolition of the Executive Presidency, she re-iterated that she is all for abolition of this office and that she too yearns to be back in Parliament.

  "However, there will be certain transitory provisions and transitory stages," President Kumaratunga added.

  Friday's LTTE attack at Rajagiriya had caused a lot of doubts regarding the government's peace effort among a certain sections of the people. However, it is clear from the President's message that the government 's stance is the same no matter how hard the LTTE kick another chance given to them for negotiations.