"There's no plan for a major offensive in the north," Bogollagama told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Malaysia, insisting the government's main priority was to look instead for a political solution to the 24-year-old conflict.

"We want the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) to return to the negotiating table."

Sri Lanka's defence secretary vowed in January to attack and destroy all Tamil Tiger military assets, including those in the northern stronghold they control under the terms of a tattered 2002 truce.

Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting for an independent state in the north and east since 1983. Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict, around 4,500 in the past year alone.

But recent battle-field victories by government forces have left political analysts wondering if President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who came to power in 2006 vowing a tougher stand against the Tigers, could be tempted to push for a military solution.

Analysts say an attempt to capture the north from the Tamil Tigers could be a recipe for years of more war. In 1995, under then President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the military swept into the north, capturing the Jaffna peninsula, but the war dragged on.

PEACE PROPOSALS WEEKS AWAY

The Tigers still hold territory in the north that they run as a de facto state and where they have effectively been besieging the government-held Jaffna peninsula.

Despite recent military victories in the east, and boasting of strong economic growth, the foreign minister said the government's main priority was to find a political solution.

Bogollagama said consensus proposals from an All Party Representative Committee should be ready to announce within a few weeks. The committee is expected to come up with a new proposal for devolving power to the island's minority Tamils.

The international community hopes the initiative can revive the peace process, but the Tigers have already dismissed it.

Bogollagama said the proposals would need parliamentary approval but the government would back the recommendations of the Supreme Court as the ultimate authority over the process.

"In the event that it is recommended that we have a referendum, it will be placed before the people," he said.

Bogollagama also defended the government against allegations it was too slow to probe rights abuses by the military. Nordic truce monitors blame security forces for the killing of 17 local aid workers a year ago, but inquiries so far are inconclusive.

Bogollagama also declined to apologise for an outburst by the chief government whip against a senior U.N. official who had said Sri Lanka had one of the worst records for aid-worker safety.

The government whip called U.N. Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes a "terrorist". But Bogollagama said this was a personal remark, not a government view.

"There was no need to apologise," he said.

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