JVP threatens to trigger new crisis for Lanka govt

JVP leader Wimal Weerawansa, in the first ever announcement regarding the party’s stance on the issue, said it was ‘‘willing to sacrifice the government… the country needs a government to defeat separatism, not to nourish it. In the next few days we will announce our decision to save the country first. The government comes later.’’

Weerawansa vowed to defeat her moves even as Kumaratunga pledged to press ahead with the proposed plan that has been endorsed widely by the international donor community.

The JVP argued that the proposed deal with the Tigers could be a stepping stone for a separate state the guerrillas have been fighting for, for decades.

Meanwhile, a band of Buddhist monks supported by the JVP staged a demonstration outside the main railway station in the capital Colombo on Wednesday, to press the government to roll back its plan for sharing tsunami aid. —PTI