The crucial fourth round of peace talks between the Sri Lanka government and Liberartion Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be held in Thailand from January 6-9 to discuss core issues including the unit of devolution.

The decisive round, according to government sources will deal with the specifics of the federal model that is acceptable to the LTTE and is expected to be similar to the power sharing arrangement contained in the federal constitution of India.

Government sources told The Sunday Leader that at the third round of talks held in Oslo in early December, the LTTE had shown partiality towards the Quebec model of federalism.

Meanwhile, a faction of the Sri Lanka Muslim congress (SLMC) of which negotiator Rauf Hakeem is leader has been demanding independent representation for Muslims of eastern Sri Lanka.  Highways Minister A.L.M. Athaulla has made representations to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe urging the removal of Hakeem from the team and replacing him with a member of the SLMC faction led by him.

With the SLMC leadership battle continuing unabated and spilling over to the carefully nurtured peace process itself, Hakeem had written to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremeshinghe requesting he be recognised as the representative of the Muslim community, despite being part of the government negotiating team.

The Athaulla faction of the SLMC and the National Unity Alliance (NUA) has been demanding for distinct and independent Muslim representation at the peace talks alleging that Hakeem was not independent as he was a government negotiator.

The government team of negotiators include chief government negotiator Minister G.L. Peiris, Science and Technology Minister Milinda Moragoda, Ports and Eastern Development Minister Rauf Hakeem, Defence Secretary Austin Fernando, Major General Shantha Kottegoda and Director, Peace Secretariat, Bernard Gunatilleke.

The LTTE delegation comprises Dr. Anton Balansingham, Adele Balasingham, Political Wing Leader S.P. Thamilchelvan, LTTE’s Batticaloa and Ampara military commander Karuna Amman, economic affairs advisor Jay Maheswaran and T. Rudrakumaran.

The two teams have held two rounds of talks in Thailand and one in Oslo.  The next round is scheduled for March in Japan followed by a round in South Africa.