COLOMBO: President Mahinda Rajapakse is under pressure from his two coalition partners to take a tough stand against Tamil Tigers when the government delegation resumes the second round of talks on April 19.

Addressing an All-Party Conference convened by Rajapakse on Monday to discuss the forthcoming peace talks, the Marxist JVP and the all monk party, the JHU, threatened to withdraw their support to the president unless his peace delegation gets the Tiger rebels to agree to a review of the ceasefire agreement.

Reminding President Rajapakse of the LTTE bashing pact signed between the JVP and him prior to last November’s presidential elections, JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe told the conference that it was the government’s duty to prevent formation of an Eelam state.

“The LTTE’s intention is to maintain the recognition given to them in the ceasefire agreement signed in 2002 by officially accepting that there are ‘LTTE-controlled areas. If the Tigers continue to secure that recognition given to them their next step will be to ask the international community to accept eelam,” an angry JVP leader declared.

The JVP outburst came after the LTTE stepped up its attacks on the military. Five soldiers and two humanitarian workers were killed on Monday in a Claymore mine blast by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Jaffna.

The mine exploded on the main A-9 highway in Mirusuvil, Jaffna, as the Sri Lanka army cab and a local non-governmental organization vehicle crossed paths, military spokesperson Prasad Samarasinghe said.

On Saturday, a truck with 12 soldiers on board, carrying food rations was caught in an LTTE explosion that injured a soldier and a bystander.

One soldier and a Tamil rebel were killed when troops and Tigers exchanged fire in a separate incident in eastern Trincomalee, also on Saturday. Violence in Sri Lanka’s volatile north and east has spiralled since Vanniasingham Vigneswaran, the leader of a pro-rebel citizens group, the District Tamil People’s Forum in Trincomalee, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Friday. The LTTE blame the military for the killing and say they may pull out of the second round of peace talks on April 19.

The LTTE attacks came despite its hierarchy meeting ambassadors of the EU, Japan, Netherlands and Norway, on Monday morning at the rebel headquarters in northern Killinochchi. The four ambassadors representing the four countries which are co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor conference failed to get an assurance from the Tigers that they would participate in the second round of peace talks.

The LTTE spokesperson, Dayanidi, told Dawn that there was a strong possibility of the rebels boycotting the second session of peace talks following increased clashes between LTTE cadres and government forces.

“It does not look positive. We have not yet sent a formal word. We will have to monitor the situation closely”, the rebel spokesperson said in a telephone interview.

“If talks take place it will be about the disarming of militant groups in the north east. We will especially want the military to disarm Karuna,” Dayanidi said referring to the rebel demand that the government disarm Tamil militant groups, mainly its renegade former eastern District Commander, Muraleetharan alias Karuna.

The LTTE claims that the government has not honoured its pledge made at the first round of talks in February to disarm paramilitary groups. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s main Opposition party says that the peace talks will be heading towards disaster if the LTTE and the government do not compromise.

“No political party opposes the holding of the second round of talks. This is clear at the All-Party Conference. But talks will be futile if the government takes hard line over the issue,” Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, the former Minister for North East Affairs under the former United National Party (UNP) regime, said. The talks between the government and the LTTE at present focus on maintaining the ceasefire agreement after the rebels refused a government offer in January to discuss a final solution to the peace process.