NEW DELHI: "It's a million dollar question," Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said on Tuesday when asked how long Colombo would wait before coming out with a military response to the continuing provocations from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Referring to the well-known Bob Dylan song, Mr. Samaraweera stated that the answer to the question posed to him at a press conference was "blowing in the wind." However, he said the LTTE's efforts to provoke Colombo into retaliation had not succeeded.

On the breakaway Karuna group, the Foreign Minister claimed it was an "internal, dissident faction" of the Tigers. According to him, the Karuna group did not operate in the "cleared areas" under the control of the Sri Lankan Government.

The Foreign Minister stated that the LTTE was using the Karuna issue as a pretext not to return to the negotiating table. As far as Colombo was concerned, both the Karuna group and the LTTE were terrorist organisations.

Mr. Samaraweera, who met Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran before leaving for Colombo on Tuesday, said the onus for resuming the peace process was now on the LTTE.

``Deep regret''

Referring to Monday's meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Foreign Minister told presspersons that he expressed "deep regret" at the LTTE decision to engage in a series of cowardly attacks against the security forces and civilians.

"I pointed out that the LTTE has a track record of entering into negotiations and then resiling from the process, using the flimsiest of pretexts. This they have done whenever a sound window of opportunity emerges to address issues such as democracy, human rights and development in the North and the East [of Sri Lanka] ... it is this same pattern of behaviour that the LTTE has been engaging in on this occasion," he maintained.

"For the Government of Sri Lanka, there is only one desirable option, namely a negotiated political solution that meets the aspirations of all communities and preserves the territorial integrity of an undivided Sri Lanka. The international community must therefore make it clear to the LTTE that the decision as to whether the peace process goes ahead rests entirely with them," Mr. Samaraweera said.

Failure of envoy

Asked about the failure of Japanese special envoy Yasushi Akashi, currently on a visit to Sri Lanka, to kick-start the peace process, the Foreign Minister wasn't surprised at this development.

"For 35 years, various special envoys have been going to Sri Lanka."

Norway's role

On whether Colombo wanted to end Norway's role in the peace process, Mr. Samaraweera clarified that Sri Lanka was not looking for a new facilitator. Admitting that any facilitator's task was a "thankless one" given the complexity of the ethnic problem, the Foreign Minister said Sri Lanka had a frank and open relationship with the Norwegians.

"They [the Norwegians] are doing their best," he added.

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