In a hard hitting statement issued yesterday, the LSSP warned the PA "in particular'' that a turning point has been reached and unless there is a renewed commitment to the political solution it has advanced, "the peace process will be wrecked.''

The statement, that said that such a commitment can be convincingly demonstrated only by presenting the PA's draft constitutional amendment to parliament for adoption. There is no reason why a PA-UNP consensus cannot be reached by adopting the UNP amendments to the PA draft, the LSSP said.

"Not to do this and to engage in petty political bickering will only strengthen the Fascist LTTE'', the LSSP statement said.

It also blasted the PA for making the UNP attitude an excuse to shelve the package "and permit its political nincompoops to talk about a presidential election on the basis of possible success in clearing the highway to Kilinochchi no matter how ephemeral such success could be.''

It alleged that it was in the face of such "simpleton attitudes of both the UNP and PA that the LTTE thought it could start liquidating its political opponents without a backlash from the people.''

The following is the text of the statement titled "the South's responsibility for LTTE killings in the North'' signed by the LSSP's General Secretary, Mr. Batty Weerakoon:

The LTTE's terrorism targeting the democratic political leadership in the North has reached a new high in the recent months. The political forces in the South have with each terrorist killing piously uttered their condolences and stopped at that. They have made no attempt to understand the underlying meaning of these new killings. Whereas in earlier times the LTTE had shown concern for the popular reaction to any killing by them within the Tamil community, the recent killings were apparently done in complete disregard of public opinion. The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is of the considered view that the people of the North and their political parties are justified in concluding that they remain exposed to these killings solely because the political parties in the South have betrayed the hope, trust and confidence which they had placed in the political solution to the ethnic crisis that was projected by the PA Government.

These killings must be viewed in their political context. The people who in their totality left Jaffna in the face of the advancing Riviresa troops returned to their localities after the LTTE was dislodged from its urban strongholds. This return was in the face of LTTE opposition. The TULF too, despite its initial hesitation and mistrust, entered the local government election fray in order to help re-establish the civil administration in the North. This was done in the teeth of LTTE opposition, but the LTTE was unable to carry out its killings because the people stood with these democratic forces. It is only with the growing disenchantment of the people and the feeling of being betrayed that the LTTE was able to kill with political impunity the Mayor of Jaffna, the heroic Sarojini Yogeswaran of the TULF. The second killing, that of Sarojini Yogeswaran successor, Sivapalan, was carried out in a manner which showed no concern for the lives of other Tamils too who co-operated with the TULF in the maintenance of the civil administration. What should be of special significance is that this act of terrorism the LTTE had the willing co-operation of persons highly placed in that same administration.

Other Tamil parties too which had entered the peace process were not spared. It was only medical expertise that saved Douglas Devananda from the attempt made on his life. The PLOTE too lost one of its Members of Parliament who was killed by a claymore mine that did not spare those who accompanied him in his jeep.

It is significant that these killings were all carried out in a situation in which the people of the North felt justified in concluding that no trust could any longer be placed in the promised political solution. They saw that the UNP had given every indication that it would not support in parliament the PA's package. They saw that the PA made the UNP attitude an excuse to shelve the package and permit its political nincompoops to talk about a Presidential election on the basis of possible success in the clearing of the highway to Kilinochchi no matter how ephemeral such success could be. It was in the face of these simpleton attitudes and strategies of both the UNP and the PA that the LTTE thought that it could start liquidating its political opponents without a backlash from the people. The LTTE sees that the point has been reached when it could, in its unmistakably Fascist manner, convincingly denounce the victims of their terror as betrayers of the Tamil cause.

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party warns the PA in particular that a turning point has been reached, and unless there is renewed commitment to the political solution it has advanced, the peace process will be wrecked. Such commitment can be convincingly demonstrated only by presenting to Parliament for adoption the PA's draft Constitutional amendment. There is no reason as to why PA-UNP consensus cannot be reached on it through an adoption of the UNP's amendments to the PA draft. Not to do this and to engage in petty political bickering will only strengthen the Fascist LTTE.