Govt prepares counter proposals to JVP demands

by Jayantha Sri Nissanka

The Government is preparing a set of counter proposals to the JVP's 20 demands in return for their support to the Government.

"We are going to discuss the JVP proposals during the weekend and inform the JVP about our proposals", Minister of Education Susil Premajayanth told the Sunday Observer .

We hope that we can reach an understanding with the JVP to push the country forward, he said.

When contacted JVP MP Vijitha Herat said the JVP had a preliminary discussion on the proposals on August 4 with the Government's counterparts and another round of talks will be held soon to finalise whether they would extend their support to the Government or not.

"Still it is premature to say whether the talks are successful or not", he said.

When asked what was contained in the proposals, Herat said it is about abolishing the Ceasefire Agreement officially, removing Norway from the facilitator role, closing the SLMM office as it has become redundant, fixing a definite timetable for the LTTE to come for talks and taking immediate action if the LTTE is threatening national security.

The proposals have also emphasised that the Government stops privatisation of public institutions and reduce the number of Ministries.

When asked whether the Government can accept these tough proposals which could bring international condemnation for deviating from the peace process, Herat said that this is not Ranil Wickremesinghe's backboneless Government.