President Chandrika Kumaratunga came to power in 1994 promising to bring peace to Sri Lanka. One of the main planks of her peace package was a proposal to devolve power to the regions, including those dominated by the minority Tamil community.

For the constitutional changes to become law, the government needs the support of the main opposition United National Party in order to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority in parliament. Up to now, the UNP has said it needs more time to find out the views of the whole party.

The Justice Minister, G L Peiris, said political decisions needed to be made by the end of January and that they had reached what he termed the outer limit of the process. He said if the UNP did not respond by then, the government would have to consider alternative action, such as a referendum.

The government may hope that if it receives strong backing in such a non-binding referendum, it could pressurize the UNP into acceptance of the plan, which aims to divide the country into regional councils with wide-ranging powers. However, any settlement of the 14 year old conflict will depend on the Tamil Tiger guerrillas, who have been fighting for a separate homeland in the north and east.

They have opposed the devolution package, saying it doesn't meet all of their demands, and it's not clear whether moderate Tamils will back it either. Some members of the majority Sinhalese community, on the other hand, believe it gives too many concessions to the Tamils. But the government is not relying solely on a political solution to the war.