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by Rajmi Manatunga

The People's Alliance said yesterday that it does not completely oppose the de-proscription of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as long as there are bona fides on both sides, but complained that the country's main opposition was being kept in the dark about the government's agenda for the proposed peace talks.

Senior PA spokesman and former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar told a press conference in Colombo that the opposition was willing to "attempt with the government to identify the problems, but for that we have to know what they have in mind."

The agenda and the dates for the talks are not public and haven't even been finalized. This is a period of doubt and uncertainty probably leading to a dangerous situation and we do not know where we are heading, he added.

Kadirgamar, who helmed peace initiatives when the PA was in power, asked that the de-proscription of the LTTE be linked to the talks. He asked for bona fides from both sides for the move to take place. The government has already said that the un-banning would be done ten days before the talks officially begin.

He said the PA supported the idea of establishing an interim administration to run the northern and eastern regions, but it should not be taken up in isolation of other issues. "Otherwise, there is a danger of the interim solution leading to a de facto situation that will become the permanent solution. That is a recipe for permanent disaster," Kadirgamar added.

Kadirgamar was one of three senior PA leaders who addressed the press conference at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. The others were former ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Sarath Amunugama.

The alliance's Media Spokesman Amunugama charged the government with heaping an unbearable burden on the people by increasing the cost of living. He accused the UNF government of failing to fulfil their main election pledge of reducing the cost of living. He said that the government is trying the age old method of blaming the previous government by saying that they were left with an empty treasury.

"Never in the history of Sri Lanka has the basket of food been so expensive and the cost of living been sky high due to wrong policies adopted by the government. The price of a litre of Diesel was Rs 27 when we handed over the government to them and now it has gone up to Rs 33. We never revised the oil prices every week according to the world market like the present government. Prices of food, transport, fuel, electricity, water and medicine have sky rocketed in the past six months," Amunugama claimed.

Amunugama also charged that the Police was being used by the government to victimize the opposition. He cited the Police department's inability to find those responsible for the destruction of former MP Nalanda Ellawala's statue and the Kandy acid throwing case as examples.

MP Samaraweera denied rumours that he met the JVP leader and said that the PA can work with the JVP to bring honourable peace to the country though there are major differences between them on devolving power.

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