The Government has decided not to respond to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) demands but instead will go ahead with the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee to work out modalities on devolving powers, a member of the government delegation to the talks said.
Parliamentarian Sajin Vaas Gunawardena said yesterday the Government would not respond to the ultimatum issued by the TNA. “We cannot solve a 60-year-old problem in 10 days,” he said.
“We have not given an undertaking to the TNA that we will put forward our proposals which we will be placing before the PSC,” he said.
Mr. Gunawardena said there were about 21 parties in parliament and each of these parties had their views which could be put forward to the PSC.
He said the TNA was not the only representative of the Tamils and therefore the PSC process would go ahead. His comments came after the TNA said it was pulling out from talks after 10 rounds of discussions as the Government delegation had failed to come up with practical measures.
TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthran said the party had given a two-week period for the Government to respond but it was not a deadline.
He said the Government delegation had earlier agreed it give its proposals in writing, but had failed to keep this promise.
The opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuma (JVP) have said they will keep out of the PSC process until the Government announces its stance on the devolution of powers. |
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