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| Monday, 29 March 2004 |
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President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga yesterday said the Freedom Alliance will give the highest priority to a permanent peace. It will try its best to have the LTTE agree to the participation of other parties when having discussions to resolve the North-East issue. In a comprehensive, wide ranging interview telecast over Rupavahini last night, President Kumaratunga said that at the moment, the LTTE was not for the idea of having discussions with other parties to the North-East problem. "We will try our best to get the participation of others when having discussions with the LTTE. If the LTTE disagrees, we will have discussions with other parties separately and get their ideas," President Kumaratunga said. Describing the consensus between the SLFP and the JVP over the ethnic problem, the President said the JVP has clearly stated that they were committed to solve the North-East problem peacefully and will agree to a final solution reached through negotiations. "The JVP has clearly agreed to give their consent to a solution reached through negotiations which the majority of the people accept," the President said. She justified her party's decision of forging an alliance with the JVP, and said the JVP has publicly renounced violence. It had a good record during the last 14 years. The UNP has so far failed to apologise for its past sins of assassinating thousands of youth, the President said. She was happy to see Ranil Wickremesinghe who sabotaged her peace efforts, talking about peace after the 2001 elections. Commenting on the large scale corruption which is a feature of the UNF Government, Ms Kumaratunga said she has taken a firm decision to rid the country of corruption after the April 2 election. She charged that the UNF has come to power only to plunder the national assets and to go home, not for anything else. President Kumaratunga said that the UNF Government during its two years in office, had not made any efforts to solve the unemployment problem. No employment had been given. This anomaly would be rectified by a Freedom Alliance Government as during the regime of the People's Alliance (PA) where several hundred thousand youth were provided jobs and other benefits. The educational reforms introduced by the PA and abandoned by the UNF will be continued, the President said while national industries will be given necessary support. |
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