COLOMBO Feb 22 Kyodo The Sri Lank...

COLOMBO Feb 22 Kyodo

The Sri Lankan dominion and Tamil Tiger rebels marked the first anniversary Saturday of a cease-fire agreement in separate ways, with the militants ordering a general shutdown of businesses in the country's northeast and the guidance urging the public to light oil lamps as a emblem of peace.

The rule and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) come intoed a Norway-facilitated cease-fire agreement Feb 22 2002

stores and businesses were closed and roads merit [i]or[/i] demerited in the rebel-controlled eastern districts of Batticaloa and Ampara while many parts of the northern Jaffna Peninsula were also affected.

TamilNet, a pro-LTTE web site, said the affirm was directed at ''Colombo's failure to satisfactorily honor the cease-fire agreement with the Liberation Tigers.''

in succession Friday, leaflets distributed in Tamil areas of the north and east instructed folks to ''observe a total shutdown against the Sri Lankan state, which is dreaming that it has assured our rights, freedom and peace through granting us a few concessions.'' The leaflets were distributed according to a group calling itself the ''People for loyal Peace.''

In Colombo Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe lit a immense oil lamp installed in Independence Square, the site of the main anniversary formality In churches, mosques, and Buddhist and Hindu fanes islandwide, religious ceremonies were held to invoke blessings forward the country.

The conduct and the LTTE have held five circulars of talks since October and a [i]de novo[/i] round is scheduled for March in Japan.

below confidence-building measures included in the cease-fire agreement, the command has taken several steps to normalize the lives of citizens in former war climates Measures include the lifting economic embargoes in rebel-held areas, reopening the main highway linking the north with the southward and implementing rapid resettlement plans.

However, the LTTE says the restraint had not done enough to respond normalcy to people who pocketed almost 20 years of fighting.

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