APRC to include TMVP

JHU, MEP to continue with proceedings:

By Ananth Palakidnar

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President Mahinda Rajapaksa has responded positively to the inclusion of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) to the All Party Representative Committee (APRC).

With this new development the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Jathika Hela Urumaya, the parties which insisted on the participation of the TMVP at the APRC have withdrawn their boycott and decided to continue with the APRC proceedings from this week, Minister of Science and Technology and Chairman of the All Party Representative Committee Prof. Tissa Vitharana said.

Prof. Vitharana told the Sunday Observer that one-and-a-half months ago the Jathika Hela Urumaya and Mahajana Eksath Peramuna kept away from the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) proceedings for not including the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), the breakaway party from the LTTE to the APRC.

“However, I brought this matter to the attention of the President who decides on the parties that represent the APRC.

Following the performance of the TMVP at the local government polls and thereafter at the Provincial Council polls in the eastern province the President took a positive stance with regard to the participation of the TMVP at the APRC sessions.

The TMVP with its entry into the political mainstream has now come out with even a Chief Minister, which is noteworthy,” Prof. Vitharana said. He said that he conveyed the President’s positive stance with regard to the inclusion of TMVP to the APRC to the JHU and MEP and the two parties have now decided to withdraw their boycott by confirming their participation from this week in the APRC proceedings.

According to Prof. Vitharana, the APRC had convened 76 meetings since its inception, one-and-a-half years ago.

”Ninety per cent of issues have been dealt with positively and the APRC is hopeful of dealing with the remaining ten per cent of issues successfully.

We cannot set a time frame for the final outcome of the APRC. However, we see things in a positive manner, the recent visit of the APRC members to Northern Ireland and the political developments there had also helped the APRC in a remarkable way.

With the future participation of the TMVP the representation of the Tamil parties to the APRC would be two with a total of fifteen parties in the APRC. The EPDP is the other Tamil party which has remained a member in the APRC from its inception,” Prof. Vitharana said.