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| Saturday, 16 October 2004 |
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| UNP should abandon pro-LTTE policy - Liberal Party The Secretary General of the Liberal Party Kamal Nissanka in a news release states that the United National Party being a major party in Southern politics should abandon its pro-LTTE stand and be more serious in finding a way to push forward a program for peace negotiation in the direction of a respectable solution covering the entire nation. It states: It is a well-known fact to the people who are akin to the past peace negotiations in Sri Lanka that the UNP-LTTE peace honeymoon was ended up by the LTTE in April 2003. After the rejection of three UNP interim proposals, the Interim Self Government Authority proposal (ISGA) was submitted by the LTTE and it now seems that the Ranil-GL clique in the UNP has accepted the ISGA on a platter without any serious criticism. The Liberals feel that one and only logical strategy to face the LTTE's separatist agenda is the unification of the three major parties (SLFP, JVP and UNP) in southern politics at least to formulate one policy towards the Tiger and its ISGA. We feel that it is not only the LTTE's fascist tendencies that we have to defeat but also irrational, illogical pro-Tiger policies of some of the European governments too. In these circumstances the Liberals welcome the National Advisory Committee on Peace and Rehabilitation (NACPR) because we believe that the Sri Lankan peace process is destined to go through a cycle of multi track diplomacy. The Liberals reiterate the view that the national question be solved on the basis of a federal solution with adequate safeguards to the North and Eastern provinces. Any interim administration should be linked to a final solution and the parties without waste of time can identify the core issues. Therefore the UNP should work together with the SLFP and the JVP and the participation in the NACPR is a must as to construct one policy for future negotiations. The Liberals urge the true democrats in the UNP to intensify the debate within the UNP itself to defeat the pro-LTTE line of Ranil-GL clique. The LTTE has tried its best to bring the Tamil opinion under one voice by eliminating all other Tamil leaders. (They are hunting for Mr. Devananda and Mr. Karuna, last two leaders of dissent). The LTTE has killed one president, one presidential candidate, former national security minister and a deputy defense minister, all belong to the UNP. Therefore the Liberals urge the UNP to reconsider its pro-Tiger appeasement policy as to formulate a unified southern consensus against separatism. What we need is a respectable solution and not dancing to the tune of the "Tiger". UNP and SLFP, who are jointly responsible for the creation of this animal during the post independence period, should be equal partners in taming the creature they created. |
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