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| Sunday, 7 December 2003 |
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Politics |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Failure of crisis talks 'catastrophic' - PM If the ongoing talks between the Government and President bears fruit, a new political culture would emerge; if it failed, it would prove catastrophic to the people, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said addressing meetings in the Puttalam district, yesterday. "The UNF government succeeded in bringing the LTTE to the negotiating table, ensuring a cessation of hostilities and agreeing to a federal system. We received the assistance of the international community and were in a strong position. From there on, we had to establish a political framework", the Prime Minister said. At this instance, the LTTE asked for an interim administration, which I did not refute", the Premier said. "From here, we had to reach the final stage of negotiations. But, we were unable to carry on negotiations further. We also afforded the LTTE the opportunity of travelling overseas to learn other systems of collective government. Then, some people questioned whether we were attempting to make the LTTE internationally accepted". "The LTTE has now put forward its political proposals for the first time. Some proposals cannot be accepted. Now, it is possible for us to reach a final political agreement", Premier Wickremesinghe said. "All this was possible because of new thinking on our part; had we pursued the old way, we would not even have been able to end the hostilities," he added. "There is still some confrontation at sea and between the LTTE and Muslims, the Kinniya problems being the latest," he noted. |
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