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Ex-rebels’ party to support Rajapaksa

COLOMBO: Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikkal (TMVP), the LTTE rebel group-turned-political party, has formally joined the All-Parties Representative Committee (APRC) constituted by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to find a solution to the ethnic conflict.

The TMVP was invited to join the APRC by its chairman Tissa Vitharana, after its impressive performance during the election, held in May, in the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC).

Minister Vitharana said the TMVP had nominated Batticaloa Mayor Sivageetha Prabhakaran to represent it at the APRC. The committee is expected to meet next week.

The APRC has not been convened for a while after the Jathika Hela Urumaya and Mahajana Eksath Peramuna suspended their participation pending the accommodation of the TMVP in the committee, said Mr. Vitharana.

The committee’s activities would be “accelerated as the committee now has representatives reflecting almost the entire spectrum” of political views in the country, he said.

Separately, the military has claimed 19 LTTE cadre were killed and 20 injured in clashes in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar and Welioya.

The Defence Ministry said troops confronted the LTTE while “consolidating operations in the newly liberated areas” in Vavuniya.

Three soldiers were injured in the fighting.

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