Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has called on all political parties to make joint efforts to bring permanent peace to the country within the framework of a united and independent nation, the official Daily News said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the National War Heroes' Day commemoration held in the central hilly city of Kandy on Monday, Kumaratunga said that the government was committed to taking the country forward as a united and independent nation while holding discussions with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

"We are committed to addressing their grievances while protecting the dignity of all communities in a united and independent country where humanity reigns," she added.

The previous government of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the LTTE rebels held six rounds of peace talks between September 2002 and April 2003 after a ceasefire was

implemented between the two sides seven months before the talks commenced.

"We have to go a long way to turn this temporary peace into a permanent peace. We have to make lot of sacrifices in marching towards this endeavor," she said.

However, she said, the government was not ready to move towards this end disregarding the nation's security, territorial integrity and sovereignty. The task of achieving permanent peace is a much more arduous task than engaging in war, the president added.

She called on all political parties to shed petty political differences and unite to join in the task of turning the temporary peace into a permanent peace.

The peace talks have been in deadlock since April last year and the recent Norwegian efforts to revive the talks also failed due to the LTTE demand for the setting up of an interim administration in the war-battered north and east of the country.