Sri Lanka plays down tensions

The road to peace is fraught with pitfalls and difficulties

By Frances Harrison BBC correspondent in Colombo

Sri Lanka's government says the objections of a noisy few to the ceasefire agreement with Tamil Tiger rebels do not mean that public opinion as a whole is against it.

The two do not see eye to eye

Government spokesman GL Peiris said December's elections had demonstrated the overwhelming support for Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe's efforts to tackle the problem.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga, however, seems to differ.

She says there are several suspicious clauses in the agreement, alleging she was only told of the details after the rebels had signed the document.

The president, who wields considerable power as commander-in-chief of the army, has also said she could put a stop to the agreement with one telephone call to the military.

'History of distrust'

Professor Peiris said the objections voiced by Mrs Kumaratunga and others simply did not represent the majority view.

The president says she could end the ceasefire

She was kept informed by the Norwegian mediators throughout the negotiations, he said, adding he believed the president's powers only allowed her to intercede in an external conflict, not in internal disorder.

"When you consider ... the whole razor wire of suspicion, distrust, hatred that has built up over ... three and a half decades, obviously you have to expect different points of view," he told the BBC.

"Of course it is also the case that a small group of people can kick up a dust about it, can raise a tremendous din," he added.

"But the volume of noise may not necessarily be disproportionate to the numerical strength of that group."

Strained relationship

The government seems to be playing down divisions with the president, saying if there are problems, they should be defused without acrimony or rancour.

By contrast, the president has been criticising a minister who left her party to join the current government, calling him "a dwarf who wouldn't need a full bomb to kill him, just part of a bomb".

It is not yet clear whether the strained relationship between the president and the prime minister will be a serious impediment to the peace process.

For the time being, the government seems to be drawing comfort from the fact that the Buddhist clergy - some of which has been quite hawkish in the past - has not voiced any objections to the ceasefire agreement.