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| Wednesday, 5 November 2003 |
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Politics | |
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| PA issues response to LTTE proposals by Manjula Fernando The SLFP yesterday noted that the LTTE proposals for an interim self governing authority for the North and East would 'lay the legal foundation for a future separate, sovereign state,' leading to the country's division. In a statement issued by the SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena yesterday the main opposition expressed its stand on the LTTE IA proposals handed over to the government on Friday. These views are said to reflect the opinion of the majority parties within the People's Alliance. The SLFP has noted that the LTTE's mindset for a separate state was obvious in the proposals and they have attempted to justify terrorism as being for self-defence. While emphasising the importance of the immediate resumption of peace talks on core issues with joint involvement of all parties, the SLFP has expressed that a solution to the ethnic conflict should be 'through devolution of power within a united Sri Lanka on the basis of a negotiated constitutional arrangement.' In this regard it has referred to the draft constitution of August 2000. It has been observed that exclusive powers of governance cannot be vested in one community to the detriment of other communities and any final solution must be balanced and acceptable to all the communities. The SLFP has further observed 'any interim administration should be an integral part of the final settlement' thus the proposed Interim Council should begin operations after the new constitution comes into force. The statement distributed by the Opposition Leader's Office has endorsed the recent announcement issued by the Indian Government emphasising the above fact while calling upon the international community to remain strongly committed to the Tokyo declaration where disbursement of funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction of North and East was to be accompanied by close monitoring from independent bodies. |
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