Tigers test govt offer to revive peace talks

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger guerrillas have begun an internal discussion on the government’s interim power-sharing proposals aimed at reviving stalled peace talks, officials and rebel sources said today.

The rebel LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran has been in contact with his chief London-based negotiator Anton Balasingham on the latest proposals, rebel sources said.

On Thursday, the government presented a set of proposals to set up a provisional structure granting political, administrative and financial authority to the LTTE. ‘‘There is no immediate outright rejection as in previous occasions,’’ a government source said, adding a positive response was expected this time.

Diplomatic sources said the Tigers had been informally sounded before Thursday’s proposals were taken to them by peace broker Jon Westborg, a special envoy of the Norwegian government.