The Government did its best to get the LTTE to participate in peace talks but soon realized that they did not wish to do so and were only pursuing their aim of dividing the country, Science and Technology Minister Professor Tissa Vitharana said.

Addressing the Ministry staff yesterday in Colombo he said three months after the formation of the government and the Mawil Aru incident, the government invited the LTTE for peace discussions in Geneva.

But instead, the LTTE brutally killed 74 weaponless soldiers. They didn’t abandon their dividing concept either, but misused the situation of the government reacting to guerilla attacks.

The meeting was held at the Ministry to honour the Sri Lankan troops who recaptured Killinochchi.

The Minister, who is also the Chairman of the All Party Representative Committee, said that after the Mavil Aru incident, the government, under the leadership of the President, the Defence Secretary and the Heads of the Forces and the Police continued to remove the LTTE from the areas under their jurisdictions.

He said that with the break away of Karuna and his group in the East, the LTTE had weakened.

All the members of the APRC had requested the government to hold elections in those areas as early as possible, he said.

"This initiation enabled a terrorist group, the TMVP, to take to democratic politics and they are now ruling in the East with the cooperation of the other political parties, he said.

Those who are keen on obstructing the efforts of the government in establishing peace in the country were trying to create conflicts among different races - In Muslim villages Tamil people were killed and the vice versa. But Pillayan has now been able to extinguish the flame of racism, he said.

"The dedication of our troops to establish an environment for all of us to live in harmony is memorable and we salute them with deep gratitude. But we should understand that reaping of the real victory of recapturing Kilinochchi could be fulfilled only by reaching a political solution. When I spoke with the President about this matter, he too confirmed it," Prof. Warnapala said.

The present ethnic problem arose at that time due to certain political unrest which prevailed several decades ago. "So we need to go for a political solution which is acceptable to citizens belonging to all races in this country, if we are to establish permanent peace in Sri Lanka," he said.

In the next few weeks we have to be very cautious as the LTTE is now behaving like a wounded creature. There were two bomb explosions in Colombo after the recapture of Kilinochchi.

"They may attack us at any moment, at any place. Since they are now almost defeated, they would try to stage other attacks. We are confident that our armed forces would strengthen the security in the country," he added.