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| Saturday, 1 May 2004 |
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NPC urges LTTE to respond positively to President's call President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's invitation to the Norwegian Government to resume its facilitative services and seek to recommence peace talks with the LTTE offers new hope of forward movement in the peace process. The President's action is a confirmation that the results of the general election did not constitute a rejection of the peace process, said the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka urging the LTTE to respond positively to the President's call for a resumption of peace talks. The National Peace Council also called for a greater cohesiveness on the part of the new Government with regard to the peace process. The anti peace process propaganda at the recently concluded election has left a residue that needs to be dealt with by the new Government. This can be seen in the lack of cohesion within the ranks of the Government regarding the peace process. It is notable that the JVP, which is now an integral part of the Government, has not made any positive comment on the President's invitation. The Government controlled media has been carrying attacks by Government politicians and others, seeking to discredit the LTTE backed Tamil National Alliance, which is being described as separatist and Eelamist which are especially loaded terms in the Sinhala language. The defeat suffered by the new Government in the election of the Speaker of Parliament is an indicator that powers of governance will not reside with one political party. Rather, they will be distributed between the ruling Alliance and the Opposition. Even though it is backed by the powers of the Executive Presidency, the new Government has to face up to the reality of only being a minority Government. Although co-operation between the Government and the Opposition would appear difficult at this stage, the problems of effective governance require the Government to seek a formal power sharing arrangement with the Opposition. We would expect a responsible Opposition to be receptive to such a proposal. This would be especially important in taking the peace process forward and pave the way for an inclusive peace process." |
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