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by DEEPAL WARNAKULASURIYA

A coalition of 64 organisations, the Federation of Buddhist Organisations, is demanding that Norwegian Ambassador John Westberg quit the country.

They have already begun collecting signatures islanwide from Buddhists for a petition that will give him a deadline to leave the country. These Buddhist groups want the Norwegian Embassy out of the country for what they claim is Norway's support for the division of the country.

The Secretary of the Federation, Gallage Punyawardena told the "Sunday Observer" that if the Norwegian ambassador didn't listen to their petition, the Federation would take a "critical decision" and take action until he leaves the country. Mr. Punyawardena warned that the Sinhala nation would resort to a decisive agitation to "chase out the Norwegian Embassy".

Mr. Punyawardena didn't want to disclose what would be the Federation's "critical decision", but he implied that it would most probably be for a 'fast-unto-death campaign' or something similar with the blessings of the Maha Sangha. He said that the collection of signatures for the petition commenced on Poson Poya day at Anuradhapura. After bringing it to major cities in the country, the petition will be handed over to the Ambassador before the end of this month.

Mr. Punyawardena said that the internal conflict in the country could be solved by ourselves and we have no need for any kind of mediation from any foreign country. He explained that these mediators were not genuine and they had hidden hopes and plans. He didn't reveal their process for a concrete solution, but confirmed that it would not be through war. "We are not blaming the government. It was helpless since the foreign mediators had already made arrangements for the present situation over three decades ago", he added.

Mr. Punyawardena said that SU Leader Thilak Karunaratne had permitted its Chairman and former Central Bank Governor Dr. Neville Karunatillake and two others to assist in the bid to chase out 'Norwegian Embassy'. Dr. Karunatillake, said that history showed Norwegians had come to Sri Lanka as pilots or marine drivers and added their support was not necessary for our peace process.

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