Kumaratunga officially opened the first meeting of the National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR) she has launched in a bid to seek views of a wider cross section of society on peace-related issues.

The opposition led by the United National Party (UNP) of former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe stayed away from the inaugural meet at the tightly-guarded Presidential Secretariat building overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Officials at Kumaratunga's office said the council was in progress and expected by the end of the day to appoint at least three sub-committees to discuss social, political and religious issues.

"The president has spoken, but there are lot of others who are lined up to speak," an official at the meeting said.

Before the meeting started, Kumaratunga made it clear that the council was not aimed at taking over the government's own responsibility of holding direct talks with Tiger rebels and said instead the panel will be a sounding board.

Kumaratunga in a letter to opposition leader Wickremesinghe slammed him for staging the boycott and said his suggestions to start direct talks with Tamil Tiger rebels based on proposals already on the table were impractical.

"Permit me, dear sir, to take the liberty to appeal to you to make suggestions that are honest and workable," Kumaratunga said in a letter to Wickremesinghe released to reporters here Monday.

The opposition wanted talks on the basis of a proposal by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in October last year seeking an "Interim Self-Governing Authority" and the then government's counter proposals.