APRC debate academic and intellectual
SLFP representative of the APRC and Higher Education Minister, Prof.
Wiswa Warnapala, rejected out of hand the criticism made by UNP
parliamentarian Lakshman Seneviratne on the APRC deliberations.
Strongly refuting his statement in parliament charging the APRC
deliberations as a sham, he said that the deliberations were held in a
highly academic and intellectual atmosphere, with a point of view on the
historical background, to provide a strong basis to resolve the just
aspirations and grievances of the Tamil people.
"I totally disagree with all he said about the APRC deliberations. It
was probably because they did not participate in the process and do not
know what was discussed", the Minister said. The Tamil community of the
North and East has virtually been freed from the clutches of the LTTE
whose heinous acts of terrorism were growing out to be an international
problem assuming dangerous proportions while also posing a serious
threat to the geopolitical stability of South Asian region. President
Mahinda Rajapaksa has been able to distinguish between the terrorist
problem and the ethnic question and he wanted to eliminate terrorism
despite all international ramifications. The President has almost
achieved that goal and now it is the question of addressing the problem
of the Tamil people for which the APRC was set up, the Minister said. He
said that he can tell with responsibility that the APRC discourse was a
very useful operation of an intellectual and academic nature,
participated by 14 political parties represented in Parliament. There
were occasions when certain parties disagreed on certain issues but many
of these differences have been sorted out through mutual discussions, he
said adding that he believed a final document of consensus would be
ready before too long. The final document certainly will lay the
foundation for a negotiated political settlement of the national ethnic
problem, he further said.
UNP MP Lakshman Seneviratne had earlier said in parliament that " the
APRC was a mere charade".
The next meeting of the APRC has been fixed for February 10, Tuesday.
(PK)
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