Sri Lankan army chief Lieutenant General P L Balagalle believes that peace talks between his government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam will soon restart.
"There was temporary suspension of the peace talks. They will resume as soon as a consensus is reached between the Sri Lankan president [Chandrika Kumaratunga] and the prime minister [Ranil Wickramasinghe]," he said on Monday.
"The LTTE has made some proposals and they are being studied by the government. These are the areas for politicians and not military to resolve," Gen Balagalle, who arrived in Srinagar on a day's visit, said at the heavily guarded headquarters of 15 Corps.
"I don't see any reason why the peace process will get derailed. The LTTE also says it doesn't want war and it wants to resolve the issue peacefully."
He, however, said the Tigers are getting ready and recruiting people and collecting arms in case the "peace process doesn't move forward".
Gen Balagalle, however, said, "We are also getting ready if something goes wrong.
"We don't want to be caught up unawares. But I see no reason why the peace process would get derailed."
Asked about the recent Indo-Pak peace initiatives, he said, "It gives an atmosphere where you can sit down and talk. If you don't have a ceasefire you find confrontation taking place and it is difficult to talk."
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