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Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe talks inconclusive

B. Muralidhar Reddy

President may go ahead with plans to award ministerial berths to UNP dissidents

— Photo: Sriyantha Walpola

CRUCIAL TALKS: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa with Leader of the opposition United National Party Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo on Tuesday.

COLOMBO: Amid growing tensions between the two, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe had an inconclusive meeting here on Tuesday to sort out differences.

The decision of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to invite defectors from the ranks of the main opposition, United National Party (UNP), to be part of the Government is at the root of tensions between Mr. Rajapaksa and Mr. Wickremesinghe.

UNP leaders have argued that it was unethical and immoral on the part of the ruling party to influence members of the Opposition with inducements of government positions, particularly after the October memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two parties.

As per the unprecedented MoU, the two parties had agreed to cooperate on six identified national issues including a resolution of the ethnic problem. In the light of the MoU, the UNP agreed to be part of the All Parties Representative Conference (APRC) constituted by Mr. Rajapaksa to advise him on resolving the ethnic conflict.

According to sources, in his brief meeting with the President, Mr. Wickremesinghe made a strong case against induction of his party parliamentarians into the Government. Mr. Rajapaksa reportedly told him that the UNP members were keen on joining the Government and he was not pressuring any one.

It is believed that the two have decided to meet again to continue their discussions. However, Mr. Rajapaksa appears to have made up his mind to award ministerial portfolios to dissidents in the UNP and the expansion of the council of ministers could be expected soon.

Battles in the east

Separately the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the LTTE were engaged in pitched battles in the east where the former is making a determined effort to oust the Tigers from their last bastions. On Tuesday, the SLA claimed to have captured a dozen posts held by the Tigers in the east.

A statement by the military said that it has captured the Ichchalampaththu and Uppural villages, which were under the control of LTTE. Also, the security forces successfully repulsed an attack carried out by the LTTE in Panichchakerni and captured the front defence line of the tigers.

It said the government troops are now positioned one kilometre away from the Panichchankerni Bridge and a large number of Tiger troops were killed in the operations. The statement said in the confrontation one soldier died and 15 were injured.

The LTTE separately claimed that the Sri Lankan military conducted a three pronged attack to capture parts of Vaharai. "Stiff resistance from the LTTE has succeeded in repulsing the attack causing heavy losses to the Sri Lankan military. Forty five Sri Lankan military troops were killed and another 150 badly injured."

It alleged that as the SLA faced heavy losses Kfir bombers attacked civilian settlements in Kathiraveli on three separate occasions during the day. Twelve LTTE members were killed in the clashes.

On charges made by the military that it has uncovered prisons and torture chambers in the areas captured from the Tigers, the LTTE said since the Karuna group started attacking the LTTE camps from 2004, the LTTE needed a prison to keep the captured Karuna cadres.

"The "torture chambers" depicted in the Sri Lankan defence ministry website are these prison cells. They are more than six feet tall and the size of a standard prison cell to be found around the world. These were abandoned by the LTTE more than a year ago when LTTE moved further inland," the Tigers said in a statement.

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