UN envoy meets JVP leaders

The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met JVP leaders at the JVP Headquarters at Nugegoda yesterday morning around 10.00 a.m.

JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe, General Secretary Tylvin Silva and Political Wing member Vijitha Herat attended the discussion.

The discussion was a sequel to a request made by the United Nations special envoy through the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the JVP said yesterday in a news release.

Brahimi explaining the mission expected of this visit stated that he was interested in ascertaining the situation in the aftermath of the assassination of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and also the current position of the peace process in Sri Lanka. He expressed his anxiety to know the JVP stance under the existing circumstances. He added that he has heard of the JVP as a hardline party.

The JVP leader said that theirs is a party which acts upon proper identification of the truth and reality.

With regard to the assassination of Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, JVP leaders commented that the LTTE organisation has violated the Ceasefire Agreement over and over again to prove its ineffectiveness and that the Norwegian facilitators have failed to establish their credibility as an impartial facilitator.

They further said that they are not at all in favour of war but stand dedicated for peace through negotiation. We welcome a ceasefire, they said.