Sri Lankan government and the LTTE have never been as close to open war in the past five years as they now are. War rhetoric has replaced negotiations everywhere
The 'peace process' seems confined to the trashcans as both sides decide to exploit it for tactical advantage, even as they seek consolidation through hostilities on the ground.
The four year old ceasefire in Sri Lanka is tottering at the brink of collapse as the special Norwegian Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer tries to convince both parties to pull back from mutual hard-line stances and return to negotiations.
When the new Mahinda Rajapakse government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam agreed to hold another round of talks in Geneva between April 19 and 21, there was a collective sigh of relief, but how long will this troubled peace last?
The coming elections have left Colombo bereft of steady leadership, opening the room for the Tigers to argue that they can only talk with a more stable order.
The only chance Kumaratunga has would be if she can revive the peace process, a dead-beat Tsunami reconstruction effort and a lagging economy, all at the same time. <a href=pti_coverage.asp?gid=30 target=_blank>Updates</a>
LTTE denies any role in the recent spate of killings that seem to have its stamp all over, and suggests that 'serious political hierarchies' may be the masterminds as the battlefield between Colonel Karuna and Prabhakaran gets bloodier...
The attacks against Karuna have spread to the capital, Colombo, as well. With both sides willing to adopt a hard-line stance, the ceasefire is likely to be tested even more in the coming weeks.
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