‘Ceasefire Agreement still fresh in people’s minds’:

Ranil’s call for broad front to topple Govt will never succeed – W.D.J. Seneviratne

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne said Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s call for a broad front to topple the Government will never succeed as it is still fresh in the minds of the people the situation that arose as a result of Wickremesinghe signing the Ceasefire Agreement with LTTE Leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran paving the way for the LTTE to bring certain areas under their domination. People are well aware that Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity was at stake during the tenure of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. He signed the Ceasefire Agreement and handed it over to Prabhakaran via Norwegian Ambassador. Prabhakaran signed a copy of that agreement and sent it back to Wickremesinghe, the Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

This resulted in many changes in the administration and the deployment of Security Forces in the area. The Security Forces were confined to barracks while LTTE cadres moved freely with weapons and intimidated and killed civilians. This situation would have led to the division of the country. Therefore, the LTTE atrocities, instability, near-anarchy and lawlessness which prevailed in the country at that time are still fresh in the people’s minds, the Minister said.

Minister Seneviratne said that fortunately certain Ministries were taken over by the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and the Ceasefire Agreement signed between Wickremesinghe and Prabhakaran was suspended. “I have no doubt that the people will definitely reject Ranil Wickremesinghe’s broad front to topple the Government,” he said.