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| Sunday, 5 October 2003 |
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Politics |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Tamil parties against de-merger by S. Selvakumar Four Tamil political parties opposed to the LTTE met with President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga last week and requested her not to de-merge the North East province reiterating that devolution of power is a must for a solution to the ethnic crisis. "The President gave us a positive hearing and we are hopeful she will not de-merge the two provinces an EPDP source that attended the meeting with the President said. He also said the Tamil party representatives thanked the President for her firm stand that devolution of power is very essential for a political solution to the ethnic conflict. The EPDP, EROS, PLOTE and EPRLF (Varadar Wing) which formed an informal alliance called the Tamil Democratic Front (TDF) called on the President last week and was represented by Parliamentarian Douglas Devananda, Shankar Raji, D. Sidharthan MP and S. Sritharan. Meanwhile, the Elections Commissioner has written to the President last week that the deadline for the present state of the North-East is November 17 indicating that if she wanted to de-merge the province she will have to order a referendum for which they would require adequate time. However all Presidents since late J.R. Jayewardene continued with the merger, thus, postponing the de-merger by one year and the present President too had done it since she assumed office in 1995. Deputy Elections Commissioner M.C. Arunthavachelvan confirmed that the Elections Commissioner has written to the President and added that they are awaiting her response. President's Director General of Media Janadasa Peiris said that there are requests for the continuation of the merger as well as for de-merger but the President has so far not intimated her decision on it. Earlier the Tamil National Alliance consisting of pro-LTTE Tamil political parties that wanted the merger to continue and this time it was the Tamil Democratic Front opposed to the LTTE that also wanted the merger to continue, and insisted on a political solution. |
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