Colombo: Sri Lanka's peace process seemed to be heading for a major crisis after Tamil Tiger rebels flayed ceasefire monitors for justifying the heavy Army presence in the Jaffna peninsula by ruling out removal of high security zones (HSZ) on security grounds.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) chief negotiator Anton Balasingham shot off a stiff letter to Trond Furuhovde, head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), denouncing his assessment that removing HSZs from Jaffna would reduce the Army's combat potential and impair the balance between the forces.

"This adjudication simply reinforces the Sri Lanka Army's position on the illegal military occupation of public property," Balasingham said.

"This purely militaristic argument to support your thesis on balance of forces has completely ignored and trivialised the grave humanitarian issue of the displaced population," the LTTE negotiator said.

When the LTTE had forcefully raised the HSZ issue as a crucial step needed to ensure normalisation of life in tune with advancement in peace efforts, the Army had rejected the idea of removing or reducing these zones.

Furuhovde had said disturbing the HSZ would disturb the ceasefire itself, as it would upset the balance between the respective forces, thus in effect agreeing with the Army's assessment of the situation.

With the LTTE insisting on relocation of military positions in areas designated high security zones in densely populated places, this issue may emerge as a big stumbling block to progress in peace talks.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga has taken a serious view of the situation arising out of the LTTE's opposition to the presence of HSZs, her spokesman said. She was in touch with Army top brass and wanted them to oppose any move to jeopardise the security of key bases.

The SLMM chief, a former Norwegian Army general, used an argument normally used by the LTTE that maintaining military strength is crucial for success in negotiations and said it was "unrealistic" to expect one party to weaken itself militarily in the name of normalisation.

However, Balasingham said the LTTE was not asking for withdrawal of troops from Jaffna or total dismantling of camps. Rather, it wanted relocation of military positions to enable resettlement of displaced people.

He regretted that the SLMM had endorsed the Jaffna Army commander's "hardline position". In a hint that it would have a strong bearing on future progress in peace talks, Balasingham said this assessment legitimising high security zones had rendered irrelevant and meaningless the functioning of a sub-committee on de- escalation and normalisation.

This would also have implications on the functioning of another sub committee formed to address humanitarian needs, he added.

These two panels, along with a third sub-committee on forging a political solution, were formed after two rounds of talks in Thailand in September and October to address various aspects of the progress towards a negotiated settlement.

This is likely to emerge as a major issue in the next round of peace talks set to take place in Thailand from January 6. The sub-committee on de-escalation and normalisation is due to meet on January 20.

PTI