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| Friday, 18 June 2004 |
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| Government firmly committed to peace by Ranil Wijayapala and Chamikara Weerasinghe Government spokesman, Media and Information Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday declared that the Freedom Alliance Government remains committed to peace and intends commencing talks as early as possible. The Minister stated that the Government expects the LTTE too has the same commitment to resume negotiations. Addressing the Cabinet press briefing yesterday at the Information Department auditorium, Minister Samaraweera said both principal parties, the Government and the LTTE should realise that a certain degree of flexibility was needed to resume peace negotiations as soon as possible. The Minister said the delay in preparing the agenda for talks was because the Government was taking negotiations very seriously and was preparing for it in a thoughtful manner given the circumstances which called for developing a consensus among diverse political view points. "The country expects from the new Government to conduct the next round of talks in a serious, principled and prudent manner," the Minister added. The Minister said the Government believes the dialogue with the LTTE must be inclusive, prudent and transparent and not be exclusive, secretive as it was done by the previous government, in order to ensure that the majority of the country can expect a justifiable solutions to minority grievances. "We are genuinely committed to finding a lasting solution to the problem. We must take the majority of the people into our confidence when formulating the agenda for peace discussions. The two principal parties should realise that both have to adopt a degree of flexibility during the course of the discussions," the Minister added. "In order to do so we are seeking an effective compromise to the problem of how to deal with the long term importance of a lasting political settlement and the short term needs of urgently developing the North and East," the Minister added. The Minister said there was a certain amount of confusion regarding the reported LTTE response to the President's address to the nation since the said response had appeared in the official LTTE newspaper 'Viduthalai Puligal' prior to the President's address to the nation. The Minister said the Tamil Daily 'Sudar Oli' in its editorial also confirms that the response appeared on the official LTTE newspaper on May 5, 2004. There is a certain amount of confusion regarding the reported LTTE article which appeared in the newspapers. They are also not sure whether it was the official response of the LTTE to the President's speech. "So there is a doubt whether this is the LTTE's official response to the President's address to the nation or not," Minister Samaraweera added. The Minister clarified certain media reports which stated that the President may bypass Parliament in formulating the Interim Administration Authority. The Minister said as a participant in the discussion between President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and the TNA the President clearly said that she would not use any of the powers bestowed on her by the Constitution without the consent of the people. The Minister said the President expressed this view despite the TNA MPs insisting that she should be courageous by using her executive powers to form an Interim Administration for the North and East. |
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