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by Upali S. Dharmabandu

The government wants stability in the peace process and not undue haste, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris told the press yesterday.

"We are not unduly concerned about a slight delay in peace talks... What is important is not the date, but the foundation," Prof. Peiris who is also Constitutional Affairs Minister told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting.

"No one expected that there would be no problems. If the issues involved were easy, then this problem would have been resolved a long time ago," Peiris said. "What is important is the thoroughness of the process."

"We are not interested in speed for the sake of speed... We don't want to put the show on the road prematurely. We don't want to sacrifice system, order and method in order to expedite the process beyond a point," he added.

He said there is a significant improvement in the peace process since the ceasefire agreement was signed by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and the LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on February 22.

Minister Peiris observed that the government must focus attention on several problems, which could arise at the talks before the formal dialogue begins.

The Prime Minister has already taken steps to bring the peace process to a certain position incrementally with the goal of ensuring a lasting solution to the conflict, he added.

The Minister said the Prime Minister's objective is to put a firm foundation to the peace process and later bring all the facts to the negotiating table for the final discussions.

"We are happy that there are no sporadic bomb explosions, sudden attacks on civilians or killings done by suicide bombers. The credit in this regard must go to both Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and Prabhakaran."

"We all are aware that the on going ceasefire between the Government and the LTTE has so far shown fruitful results to our economy. Statistics show that tourism has shown a vast improvement from the day the ceasefire came into force and this situation also paved the way for a large number of foreign investors to visit our country."

He pointed out that the Peace Secretariat's Bernard Gunathilaka went to Kilinochchi and met the LTTE organiser S. Tamilchelvam some days ago and discussed various matters pertaining to the opening of the A9 road, A5 road and also the evacuation of the Army from schools and churches.

Discussions were also held regarding the freeing of detainees of both sides and also talked about matters pertaining to the fisheries industry.

Prof. Peiris said the Government wants to discuss the peace process with the main Opposition and other Opposition political parties.

On Wednesday the Tamil Guardian, a newspaper regarded as one which reflects LTTE opinion, editorialized that the talks may not take place soon as there were still matters to be ironed out between the two sides.

The newspaper said ``The unnecessarily much-hyped direct talks ... are not expected anytime soon.'' The LTTE has asked for the full implementation of the MoU before the talks can begin. This would include the vacation of all public buildings occupied by the Army in the North and East.

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