REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka's main minority Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), on Sunday offered to sit down with the government to discuss a political solution to Sri Lanka's national issue if the government meets some of its conditions.

TNA legislator M.A. Sumanthiran said the government must first agree to make an honest effort to address the accountability issue with an open mind and work with the international community including India and the United States.

"You will have our active support and participation in such a process of accountability and reconciliation," he said.

However, he said if the government continues with its present agenda of what he says is oppression and subrogation, the TNA will then resist it with all its might.

Sumanthiran said if the government is sincere to change its present direction and treat Tamils as equals, then the TNA is ready to sit down and discuss a solution acceptable to all communities in Sri Lanka.

The TNA legislator said that if the government agrees to an international inquiry or at least an international involvement in the process of resolving the differences, it will move the country forward.

"Questions of accountability will never go away until we meet them squarely and sincerely," he said.

He said Sri Lanka has a great opportunity now to agree to a process under the aegis of the United Nations.

The Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009 after 30 years of war but was accused of committing war crimes during the final stages of the war.

The government, however, denied the allegations and refused to accept a deadline set by Britain to show progress on accountability over the alleged war crimes before March next year or face an international probe.

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