April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam called for a permanent cease-fire leading to talks to settle the issue of Tamil separatism after the government declared a two-day halt to its military offensive in the north.

A truce should “create a conducive climate for a permanent political resolution to the national question of the Tamils,” the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat said in an e-mailed statement. It denounced the government’s pause in military operations as a “two-day holiday opportunity” for the armed forces.

The government announced the halt on April 12, saying it will allow the rescue of civilians in conflict zones. Army operations are restricted to a “defense nature,” it said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has called on the LTTE to acknowledge it has been defeated militarily and to end its armed struggle for a separate Tamil homeland. The army says the Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting for 26 years, only operate in a government-declared safe zone in the northeast after being driven from their bases since January.

The government accuses the LTTE of holding thousands of civilians against their will in the north while the Tamil Tigers say the Tamil people are being subjected to daily artillery shelling and air raids. Access to the conflict zone is restricted, with claims from both sides difficult to verify.

No Cease-Fire

Sri Lanka is “not ready” to introduce a cease-fire, Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said in a telephone interview from the capital, Colombo, today. The LTTE must lay down its arms and surrender and release civilians kept as “human shields” in the no-fire zone.

“Then we can engage in talks,” Yapa said. “I don’t think there will we another pause in hostilities.”

The United Nations last week warned of a “bloodbath” on the beaches of northern Sri Lanka and says more than 100,000 people are trapped in the region near the port of Mullaitivu.

Rajapaksa said the military offensive was halted to allow civilians “uninhibited freedom of movement” from the security zone, the Foreign Ministry said two days ago.

The government’s announcement is “merely an act of hoodwinking,” being carried out to show it’s heeding international calls and is helping Tamil civilians, the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat said.

“As a result of Sri Lanka’s embargo on food and medicine, the suffering of our people is unfathomable,” the secretariat said. “The Tamils, trapped by Sri Lanka’s military siege and the war waged on them by the Sri Lankan armed forces, are encountering untold hardships.”

Protest to Norway

Sri Lanka said yesterday it protested to Norway after its embassy in Oslo was damaged by demonstrators, saying there was inadequate security to protect the building against “hooligans belonging to the international terror network of the LTTE.”

Norway expressed regret over the incident two days ago and promised better security.

Norway’s government failed to meet requests to improve security, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“In these circumstances, the government of Sri Lanka perceives that it is no longer feasible for Norway to act as facilitator” as it has done in the past, the ministry said.

Norway led an international group of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland that monitored a 2002 cease-fire in Sri Lanka. It acted as a mediator in previous peace negotiations between the government and the LTTE.

To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net; Jay Shankar in Bangalore at jshankar1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 14, 2009 01:21 EDT