Govt approached talks with solid agenda - JHU

Chamikara Weerasinghe

COLOMBO: The Government has approached the talks with the LTTE with a solid agenda to protect the country's sovereignty unlike the former UNP regime which was submissive to whims and fancies of the LTTE, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) said yesterday.

"The Government approached the talks with a strong agenda," The JHU's General Secretary Champika Ranawaka said.

He said the Government had however committed itself to accept the existing Ceasefire Agreement despite its flaws and gross violations by the LTTE.

"The Government has agreed at the Geneva ceasefire talks to respect and uphold the Ceasefire Agreement. But this was not what was expected by the public. The Government was expected to voice its opposition to the agreement rather than upholding it," said Ranawaka.

"It has been unanimously agreed at all-party conferences which were held between President Mahinda Rajapakse and political parties that the existing Ceasefire had to be amended for effective implementation," he said.

"We are looking forward to see how the Government would respond to Anton Balasingham's demand that their cadres should be allowed to engage in "political work" in the cleared areas," he said.

"Last time when the LTTE was engaging in so-called political work, they made the best of this opportunity to kill civilians, security personnel, and their political opponents," he explained.

"They established political offices in the North-East to engage in their so called "political work" and use them to attack Army personnel," he said.

Ranawaka said that hundreds of soldiers had died because of deficiencies in the existing CFA and charged that the UNP should take the responsibility for signing a Ceasefire that has so many weaknesses.