Britain denies any contact with the LTTE

Britain denied that it discussed anything with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam before it brokered a deal between the People's Alliance government in Sri Lanka and the main Opposition United National Party.

'The British high commission is concerned by the speculative nature of some of the comments in the Sri Lankan and Indian press, alleging links between the British government and the LTTE,' said a statement issued in Colombo on Saturday.

It denied allegations that British Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Under Secretary Dr Liam Fox had spoken to the LTTE or that his visit to Sri Lanka was in some way connected with the reported visit by LTTE's Paris leader, Lawrence Tilakar, to the northern Vanni region.

'Dr Fox has had no contacts with the LTTE. His initiative was confined to discussions between the two Sri Lankan parties concerned... to share British experience in dealing with the Irish Republican Army with them. At no time did Dr Fox or the British government have any discussion about this initiative with the LTTE. The British government reaffirms that acts of terrorism are never justified for political purposes,'' the statement added.

Under the initiative brokered by the British, President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe last week agreed to adopt a common stand to resolve the ethnic conflict, clearing the way for peace talks with the LTTE.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International, the human rights watchdog group, asked the Sri Lankan government to probe 648 'disappearances' between late 1995 and early 1996 in the Jaffna peninsula after security forces gained control of the area.

'That more than 600 disappearances can occur in one year despite the government's claim that it is addressing the problem is outrageous,' the London-based group said in its latest report. The government had recently constituted a human rights commission headed by a retired supreme court judge to deal with rights violations.

'There is a clear pattern of the security forces resorting to disappearances in reprisal for attacks on them by the LTTE,' the report said, adding that at least 40 young men 'disappeared' after being rounded up by the army in Kaithady and surrounding areas, following the rebel takeover of the Mullaitivu military base in July.

'They were allegedly taken to Navatkuli army camp but when relatives went to make inquiries, they were not given any information. Amnesty International fears that they may have been massacred.'

It urged the government to allow international and national observers to visit Jaffna and assist the government enforce measures to bring an end to 'disappearances'. It also called for amending the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the emergency regulations 'which provided a context for these violations to occur.'

Meanwhile, 53 non-governmental organisations had called for an end to the ethnic struggle in Lanka at the 53th session of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights. They sought an end to the 'Sri Lanka-Tamil Eelam war' and a withdrawal of 'Sri Lankan occupying forces from the Tamil homeland,' said the International Federation of Tamils, an LTTE front organisation.

It said the NGOs had declared that it was "imperative that the Tamil people choose their own political and national status."