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| Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
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Solheim fails to make breakthrough From the Tamil Press by S.Selvakumar Erik Solheim's visit and his shuttle diplomacy between Colombo, Jaffna and Kilinochchi were given much prominence in the Tamil dailies. All privately owned Tamil papers were quite pessimistic of the outcome of his negotiations and to crown it all the Thinakkural quoted Solheim as saying that even Buddha, or Jesus could not easily, overcome the present impasse. The Sudaroli on Monday in its lead story quoting parliamentarian S. B. Dissanayake said the CWC supported the Government with the blessings of the UNP but will remain in the Opposition ranks in Parliament. The Virakesari quoting S. B. Dissanayake said that the President and the government should reveal their clear stand on the continuation of talks with the LTTE if they wish the UNP to be represented in the National Advisory Council on Peace. The Thinakkural quoting Power and Energy Minister Susil Premjayanth said that a hike in electricity prices is unavoidable since 700 MW power is generated by using fuel. Norwegian special envoy Erik Solheim in an interview to the London BBC has expressed concerns over attacks on the LTTE by armed gangs and the allegation that security forces are behind these attacks. He has also expressed his worries over LTTE's killings of political opponents. The Thinakaran on Tuesday said Norway's financial assistance to Sri Lanka's development projects will be further increased by 5 million US dollars. The Sudaroli said that the President will take forward the peace process only with the cooperation of the JVP. EPDP members launched a protest opposite the Jaffna SLMM office over the killing of Aruldas in Karampan on Saturday. The deceased was the head of the finance section of the party. The TNA in a statement has said that the contents of a press conference by Coffer Black, a representative of the American State department's anti-terrorist unit has created uncertainty in the minds of Tamil people. The Sudaroli on Wednesday in the lead story quoting diplomatic sources said even this time round Erik Solheim's visit will not make any breakthrough in efforts to restart the peace talks. A forty six member group of Bhikkhus that met with LTTE political wing representatives in Jaffna has said that only a handful of Buddhist monks are communal minded but the rest are not so. Minister Ferial Ashraff has welcomed Muslim Congress proposal that all Muslim political parties represented in Parliament be consulted and the agreement so reached would be placed as Muslim People's stand on peace negotiations, the Virakesari said. The fourth death anniversary of founder of the Muslim Congress M. H. M. Ashraff will be commemorated islandwide on Thursday, the Thinakaran said. Erik Solheim after meeting Thamilselvan in Kilinochchi has told reporters that neither Lord Buddha nor Lord Jesus could easily solve the problems that have arisen in taking forward the peace process. Some think that Norwegian facilitators are God's representatives or magicians the Thinakkural said on Friday. The Sudaroli in a front page story said price control inspectors with the help of police conducted a massive raid on Sea Street jewellery shops on Thursday and seized digital weighing scales accusing the traders that the digital scales did not carry the official stamp of the department. Forty traders were arrested and later released. The traders charged that when they took the digital scales to the department the officials had told them that there wasn't any place in the scale where they could stamp the official seal. The raiding officials have also arranged for wide video coverage of the raids. |
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