While the Tamil Tigers have convinced the world that they are keen to talk peace with the Sri Lankan government in Thailand, they have hardly been convincing on another front: grappling with their Achilles heel  on the other, it is determined to keep the LTTE within the current peace process.

And the other significant reason: the Sri Lankan government has still to address its own baggage of human rights concerns, including impunity, disappearances and the lack of military accountability.

Equally troubling for the government is how to deal with the continuing presence of the prevention of terrorism act (PTA), a law that gives the state undue power to arbitrarily arrest and detain people.

The rigorous application of the PTA in the early 1980s — resulting in torture of innocent civilians — was key to the groundswell of support the LTTE enjoyed among Tamil people in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. — IPS