With the independence call of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger leader and high-profile assassination attempt on a key governmental security official, the island country is on the brim of resuming full-scale civil war.
Velupillai Prabakaran, the leader of the rebel LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) said Monday that it will resume its struggle for independence for Sri Lanka's 2.5 million Tamil minority abandoning six years of negotiations to end the conflict.
In his annual Heros Day speech, Prabakaran said "the uncompromising stance of Sinhala chauvinism has left us with no other option but an independent state for the people of Tamil Eelam (separate Tamil homeland)."
Commenting on the February 2002 ceasefire backed by the Norwegian facilitators, the Tiger leader said it has now become defunct as the new government "hopes to decide the fate of the Tamil nation using its military power."
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has played down the rebel leader's independence call, saying that his government will not in any way deviate from a negotiated political settlement for permanent peace in the country.
"For me, the LTTE and Prabakaran and the whole Tamil people in Sri Lanka are different. Their views are different. We always believe that we stand for the rights of all, whether Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims," Rajapaksa said.
The president said that he has always urged the LTTE leader to come to the negotiating table and discuss with him directly without the participation of outsiders.
The United States, which is one of four co-chairs of Sri Lanka's peace process, has urged the LTTE to go back to talks.
Robert Blake, U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, was quoted by a local newspaper as saying that the United States would take a strong stand against any LTTE bid to go for a separate state.
"We believe that the government and the LTTE should sit down and discuss a peaceful solution through sharing of power," Blake said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also told President Rajapaksa that India supports Sri Lanka's territorial unity and a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer has come to Sri Lanka for a fresh bid to bring the two warring parties to the negotiating table.
The Norwegian effort beginning in 2000 saw the LTTE and the government meeting face to face eight times for negotiations since 2002 when the two parties signed the current ceasefire agreement.
Even as Norway's peace effort is going on, suspected LTTE members on Friday made an assassination attempt on Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the defense ministry secretary of the island country and the younger brother of President Rajapakse.
Gotabhaya was unhurt but two persons were killed, eight soldiers and five civilians were injured and the vehicle of the defense secretary was badly damaged, said the Department of Government Information in a statement.
In condemning "this dastardly attack," the government said it is "totally committed to peace," but "would not hesitate to take appropriate action to safeguard the people and the sovereignty of the state."
An article carried Wednesday in the official newspaper Daily News even proposed a "total war" against the LTTE in response to the rebel leader's independence call.
Over 60,000 were killed in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict between the 1980s and 2002 when the Norwegians brokered a ceasefire.
Violence between the two parties has been escalating from December 2005 with more than 3,500 people being killed in the island country.
President Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka's major political parties would make a collective decision on a solution to the ethnic conflict probably by December end.
It is not immediately known whether the LTTE will accept the proposed solution and what will be the government's reaction if the solution is refused by the LTTE.
Velupillai Prabakaran, the leader of the rebel LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) said Monday that it will resume its struggle for independence for Sri Lanka's 2.5 million Tamil minority abandoning six years of negotiations to end the conflict.
In his annual Heros Day speech, Prabakaran said "the uncompromising stance of Sinhala chauvinism has left us with no other option but an independent state for the people of Tamil Eelam (separate Tamil homeland)."
Commenting on the February 2002 ceasefire backed by the Norwegian facilitators, the Tiger leader said it has now become defunct as the new government "hopes to decide the fate of the Tamil nation using its military power."
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has played down the rebel leader's independence call, saying that his government will not in any way deviate from a negotiated political settlement for permanent peace in the country.
"For me, the LTTE and Prabakaran and the whole Tamil people in Sri Lanka are different. Their views are different. We always believe that we stand for the rights of all, whether Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims," Rajapaksa said.
The president said that he has always urged the LTTE leader to come to the negotiating table and discuss with him directly without the participation of outsiders.
The United States, which is one of four co-chairs of Sri Lanka's peace process, has urged the LTTE to go back to talks.
Robert Blake, U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, was quoted by a local newspaper as saying that the United States would take a strong stand against any LTTE bid to go for a separate state.
"We believe that the government and the LTTE should sit down and discuss a peaceful solution through sharing of power," Blake said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also told President Rajapaksa that India supports Sri Lanka's territorial unity and a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer has come to Sri Lanka for a fresh bid to bring the two warring parties to the negotiating table.
The Norwegian effort beginning in 2000 saw the LTTE and the government meeting face to face eight times for negotiations since 2002 when the two parties signed the current ceasefire agreement.
Even as Norway's peace effort is going on, suspected LTTE members on Friday made an assassination attempt on Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the defense ministry secretary of the island country and the younger brother of President Rajapakse.
Gotabhaya was unhurt but two persons were killed, eight soldiers and five civilians were injured and the vehicle of the defense secretary was badly damaged, said the Department of Government Information in a statement.
In condemning "this dastardly attack," the government said it is "totally committed to peace," but "would not hesitate to take appropriate action to safeguard the people and the sovereignty of the state."
An article carried Wednesday in the official newspaper Daily News even proposed a "total war" against the LTTE in response to the rebel leader's independence call.
Over 60,000 were killed in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict between the 1980s and 2002 when the Norwegians brokered a ceasefire.
Violence between the two parties has been escalating from December 2005 with more than 3,500 people being killed in the island country.
President Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka's major political parties would make a collective decision on a solution to the ethnic conflict probably by December end.
It is not immediately known whether the LTTE will accept the proposed solution and what will be the government's reaction if the solution is refused by the LTTE.
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