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Colombo rejects LTTE charge

B. Muralidhar Reddy

It is a "genuine attempt" to carry forward the peace process

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Thursday rejected the LTTE's charge that the efforts of the Government on devolution of powers was an act of political duplicity and said it was making a "genuine attempt" to carry forward the peace process.

Cabinet spokesman and Minister of Mass Media and Information Anura Priyadarshana Yapa told a news conference here that the Government was convinced that the correct path to a solution to the ethnic crisis was negotiations. He said the appointment of the 12-member committee, consisting of eminent persons of all ethnic groups, was a step towards the goal.

Mr. Yapa also said the LTTE was trying to appear as the sole representative of the Tamil society whereas there are many Tamil parties which work hand in hand with the Government accepting the negotiation processes as the correct way to establish peace and harmony.

Hours after the Government announced on Wednesday the decision on a multi-ethnic committee to advise the President on power sharing, LTTE political head S.P. Thamilchelvan ruled out negotiations on devolution of powers based on the unitary constitution and charged Mr. Rajapakse of adopting a duplicitous approach.

The TamilNet quoted him as saying, "Colombo's call for talks based on Sri Lankan constitution, rejected by Tamils decades ago, is a deliberate act of deceiving the international community while failing to implement practical steps to implement the fundamental terms of Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) as agreed in Geneva I."

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