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| Sunday, 15 February 2004 |
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PM's claims of peace process being jeopardised rejected by political parties by Deepal Warnakulasuriya Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's letter to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga charging that the peace process was blocked by her sudden decision to sack non-Cabinet and deputy ministers was rejected by several political parties. The Premier, in a tough letter, had said that this move has seriously jeopardised the peace process and crippled the government's rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. Sources at the Presidential Secretariat claimed that the Premier might have forgotten that the peace talks have been suspended since last April and pointed out that the dissolution of Parliament had only a marginal impact on the peace process. Sources also claimed that even the LTTE had charged that only minimum rehabilitation had taken place in the North and East. However, UNF spokesman and former MP Gayantha Karunathilake said the President's move to dissolve Parliament had placed the country in a crisis and claimed that the future of the peace process was in `dilemma'. He also said that the President had wilfully crippled government efforts to fulfil the ceasefire agreement and voiced confidence that the people will make the right decision on April 2. Former Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse rejected the charges made by the UNF and said that it was the public who had asked for a stable government from the President. "The President took the right decision at the right time to bring in a strong government. Not to do so would have brought harm on the public and crippled the economic development", he said. He further said that the dissolution of Parliament would not affect the ceasefire agreement and added that the LTTE had given its consent to talk with a stable government. A JVP politburo member said the policy of the last government had been to separate the country and gradually hand over parts of it to the LTTE. "The UNF lost the chance to betray the country, when Parliament was dissolved by the President. Now what they can do is mourn with their NGO friends", he said. He also said there was no need to comment on a ceasefire agreement, as the JVP did not believe there was a ceasefire agreement between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE. Meanwhile, Sihala Urumaya (SU) Leader Thilak Karunaratne said his party did not agree with burdening the people with elections one after the other. He said that getting ready for and facing an election was a huge process even for the two major parties and the present issue should be on how to conduct a free and fair election. The SU Leader said that both major parties always prioritised the problem in the North and East, giving second place to the real burning issues of the country, economic development, unemployment and cost of living. He added that the time has come to begin with the development of the rest of the country and claimed that there was no point talking repeatedly about the takeover of ministries or the dissolution of Parliament. |
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