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| Sunday, 18 January 2004 |
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SLFP-JVP MoU not electoral pact - Amunugama Alliance for talks with LTTE by Deepal Warnakulasuriya and Mendaka Abeysekera The emerging SLFP-JVP alliance, which seeks to usher in a social democratic culture, has identified restoring the peace talks as a priority task and has indicated it will initiate talks with the LTTE with reasonable conditions after the signing of the MOU. Highly placed sources said both parties had in acknowledging the need to restart the peace process, agreed that it was important to hold talks with the LTTE to work out a concrete solution to the problem. JVP officials refused to divulge the conditions put forward by them, but claimed that they were important for ensuring a united Sri Lanka, with a due place accorded to the minority communities. The SLFP-JVP alliance, in the pipeline for more than a year, will be finalised on Tuesday, with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, at a grand ceremony at the BMICH. JVP media unit confirmed that its leader Somawansa Amarasinghe will be arriving in Sri Lanka to participate at the ceremony. A committee member in charge of pre-arrangements of the function, said that the ceremony will be held as a national level function and that electoral level ceremonies will be organised by both SLFP and JVP ground level membership. PA spokesman Dr. Sarath Amunugama who denied the alliance being an electoral pact, said on Friday that the MoU would be based on a common program that include five basic principles: upgrading the local economy, working towards a solution to the ethnic problem, preserving the culture and country's heritage, making strong foreign policies and strengthening democracy. The Sunday Observer learns that the alliance would comprise a leader, chairman and a national organiser with a large-member executive board. Highly placed sources defined the alliance as a `new political philosophy' that will usher in social democratic policies, as an alternative to neo-liberalism which has burdened the public with a high cost of living. JVP sources claimed the new policies will straddle both capitalism and socialism, and will incorporate the open economy through a national economic policy. JVP Parliamentarian Anura Dissanayake said that the alliance would introduce a `Wide National Programme of Developing the Country' that would seek ways and means to tackle globalisation which often put the farmer community and the local industrialists at a disadvantage. He said that the alliance would also introduce measures to halt the present trend of selling national resources to foreigners and foreign countries. Sources also confirmed that there was nothing for the business community to fear as the Alliance would assist the local businessmen. |
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