Sri Lanka's main opposition leader has maintained that despite government's claims, the truce agreement he entered with the Ail Tigers three years ago was not the cause of violence and murder in the country.

Addressing a public rally in the north central town of Anuradhapura on Friday, Ranil Wickremesinghe said President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who had criticized the Norwegian backed agreement, could have abrogated it if she did not like it.

"It has been 14 months since she took over, they have had time to cancel it if she did not like it," Wickremesinghe said, referring to Kumaratunga's firing of his government and holding snap elections in April 2004.

Wickremesinghe's government signed the Norwegian backed truce agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Ail Eelam (LTTE) in February 2002, bringing to an end hostilities that had accounted for over 64,000 deaths since the mid 1980s.

It has largely been held despite violations, most of which have been blamed on the Ail Tigers.

Criticism resurfaced early this week with the alleged LTTE killing of a key military intelligence officer.

Major Nazim Mutaliph of the Sri Lanka Army's intelligence corps was gunned down on Tuesday and the military accused the Tigers of killing the 38th military intelligence operative since the signing of the cease-fire agreement.

Wickremesinghe said that he was accused by Kumaratunga and her allies of going soft on the Tigers compromising national security, adding the president and some of the government ministers have now begun to realize the positive aspects of the ceasefire agreement.

Source: Xinhua