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By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO APRIL 4. Sri Lanka's ceasefire monitors are trying to talk the LTTE out of a reported plan to charge an entry tax from people travelling into areas of the northern mainland controlled by it when the main highway into the region reopens, officials said.

The A 9 highway, which connects Kandy in central Sri Lanka to Jaffna peninsula and cuts through the LTTE-controlled northern mainland, is scheduled to reopen on April 8.``From the Government side, it is all ready. The de-mining is finished on our side, and we want to reopen the road as scheduled,'' an official said.

The LTTE has also said the road will be ready for reopening all the way to Jaffna peninsula by next Monday. This was conveyed to the Norwegian Ambassador, Jon Westborg, when he met the senior LTTE member, Anton Balasingham, his wife, Adele, and the political wing leader, S. Thamilselvan, in Killinochchi on Tuesday.

At present, the highway is open only up to Killinochchi with LTTE defences located in the stretch beyond, from Elephant Pass northward into the neck of the peninsula. Similarly, beyond the LTTE lines were Army defences from Muhamalai to Eluthumaduval that guarded Government control of Jaffna peninsula.

Both sides have now dismantled the defences and, with the help of international aid agencies, completed the de-mining on this stretch. But the reopening has hit a fresh snag with the LTTE plan to levy a fee on people travelling on the road.

The LTTE has said that if this was not acceptable, the alternative is to permit it to operate its own bus service on the stretch of the highway that cuts through its territory.

Officials said both proposals violated the ceasefire agreement under the terms of which there would be free movement of people, vehicles and goods on the A 9.``It would amount to extortion and setting up of a different regime in that part of the country,'' the official said.

Norwegian facilitators of the peace process and representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) were in discussions with the LTTE on the issue, the official said, adding that the problem may not be insurmountable, and that the reopening would take place as scheduled. (Courtesy: The Hindu)

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