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Journalism of Courage
President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s suggestion for a broad-based national commission to find a durable solution to Sri Lanka’s protracted ethnic problem has not found favour with the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
There is no question of the Opposition and other parties playing a decision-making role, said government spokesman and constitutional affairs minister G.L. Peiris, when asked about this idea today.
Kumaratunga had suggested in her address two days ago on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of her presidency that a national panel, comprising all parties represented in Parliament and the LTTE, could be tasked with work of finding a long-term solution.
The government, on the other hand, remains cool to her cordial utterances. None of the ministers attended her anniversary celebrations.
Peiris said the government had the main responsibility to find a solution and, in terms of the 1997 Liam Fox agreement between the two main political parties, it was bound to keep the Opposition informed of progress made in peace initiatives.
However, the agreement, named after a former British junior foreign minister who mooted the idea, did not envisage any decision-making role for the main opposition party, he said.
Kumaratunga’s idea seemed to clash with the present bilateral negotiation structure between the government and the LTTE, but Peiris was unwilling to be drawn into a discussion on the implications of the proposal.
