News

Some contentious demands including the withdrawal of Norway from playing the role of peace facilitator and the abrogation of the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002 have delayed an earlier agreed tie-up between the Government and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).

These two demands are among 20 points contained in a common minimum programme the JVP has formulated and handed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

It became the subject of a lengthy discussion by the Central Committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) on Wednesday night. It was chaired by President Rajapaksa. Several members including Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva and Mangala Samaraweera expressed the view that as a Government it would be unwise to accept those JVP demands.

This was because of the serious implications it would cause to the country and the national interest. They said the move would only benefit the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Both Ministers were to emphasise that they were, however, not opposed to the JVP joining the Government. To the contrary they favoured the idea if the JVP was willing to work within an acceptable framework.

On Thursday night, President Rajapaksa met with a JVP delegation to discuss the matter further. Associated with him were Maithripala Sirisena, Mangala Samaraweera, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Susil Premajayantha, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Dullas Allahapperuma. On the JVP side were Tilvin Silva, Anura Kumara Dissanayake and K.D. Lalkantha.

It was Minister Nimal Sirpala de Silva who explained the SLFP position to the JVP delegation. The talks centred on the contentious issues. The JVP delegation urged the Government side to provide them with their own response to the issues raised by the JVP. JVP sources told The Sunday Times that differences of opinion on some of the issues in the common programme did not mean that the party would not join the Government. "We have to define the areas we have agreed and disagreed," the source said.

The JVP's politburo meets today to discuss further the response of the Government. Thereafter, they are to hold a public rally in Colombo on August 10 to make public their decision.