Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran today (Nov 27, 2004) declared he will return to the "freedom struggle" unless the Government agreed to resume peace talks based on his blueprint for self-rule.

Spotlight: Lanka Peace Process

Prabhakaran, speaking in hard-hitting Tamil, said he had "reached the limits of patience" and wanted the Government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga to end the 19-month deadlock in talks.

"If the Government of Sri Lanka rejects our urgent appeal and adopts delaying tactics, perpetuating the suffering of our people, we have no alternative other than to advance the freedom struggle of our nation," he said.

Prabhakaran, in his annual policy speech broadcast over rebel radio, also challenged politicians from the majority Sinhalese to have a collective stand on peace talks.

"We are living in a political void, without war, without a stable peace, without the conditions of normalcy, without an interim or permanent solution to the ethnic conflict.

"Our liberation struggle will be seriously undermined if this political vacuum continues indefinitely," he said while asking President Kumaratunga's coalition partners to declare their public stand on talks.

Kumaratunga's main coalition partner, the Marxist JVP (Janata Vimukti Perumana), or People's Liberation Front, has been against concessions to the LTTE (The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and opposes the resumption of peace talks based on an LTTE plan for self-rule.

The President herself had rejected the LTTE's Interim Self Governing Authority proposal unveiled over a year ago as a stepping-stone for a separate State.

Prabhakaran said observing a truce for nearly three years and holding peace talks at foreign venues had brought little benefits for the island's Tamil minority.

"You are fully aware that during this period of ceasefire we have been making every endeavour, with sincerity and commitment, to seek a negotiated settlement to the Tamil national question through peaceful means".

"In various capitals of foreign nations, with Norway as facilitators, we engaged in peace talks with the Government. The six sessions of negotiations held over the duration of six months, turned out to be futile and meaningless."

There was no immediate reaction from the Colombo Government to Prabhakaran's latest speech, which wrapped up the Tigers' annual week of ceremonies honouring their war dead.