N-E conflict: UNP committed to a peaceful settlement - Opposition Leader

Ranil Wijayapala and Uditha Kumarasinghe

KOTTE: Opposition and United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe declared yesterday in Parliament that his party has not wavered in its commitment to the peaceful resolution of the North and East conflict despite the breach of the MoU by the Government.

Making a special statement in Parliament on the MoU signed between the SLFP and the UNP, the Opposition Leader stated that the UNP finds it impossible to work with the Government in finding a solution to the issues referred to in the MoU when the Government has broken the MoU.

He said since the Government proclaims that they can carry on the negotiations by itself, his party will allow the Government to do so. "The UNP will support in Parliament to any final negotiated settlement which is within the framework of the paper submitted by the Party representative K.N. Choksy to the APRC," the Opposition Leader said.

Wickremesinghe said the MoU signed between the SLFP and the UNP was truly historic because it was perhaps the first and only occasion in the nation's past since independence, that the two largest and oldest political parties in the country had agreed to co-operate on several critical issues of vital importance to the people.

"Our co-operation with the Government went so far as to discuss the establishment of a new committee system in Parliament," Wickremesinghe added.

"Therefore, I was surprised when the President decided contrary to the MoU to swear in Members of Parliament of the UNP as Government Ministers without the UNP's consent," the Opposition Leader added.