UNP to review boycott of APRC

The UNP would review its boycott of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) after the SLFP put forward its proposals on May 1, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said.

“We said we would not attend to APRC until the government forward its proposals and we still stick to that decision,” he said.
SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena said last week that President Mahinda Rajapaksa on May 1 would present the party’s proposals on a political solution to the national question.

He said the SLFP proposals called for maximum devolution of power within an undivided country with an executive Prime Minister accountable to Parliament.

Mr. Sirisena said the party’s proposals were not the final solution but they were to be placed before the committee to help it form a final solution.

“The proposals are based on Mahinda Chinthana and are formulated within Mahinda Chinthana as well”, he said. The Mahinda Chinthana manifesto called for maximum devolution of power within a unitary state.

The JVP pulled out of the APRC in December, protesting against a federal solution recommended by a group of experts appointed by the APRC.