COLOMBO, JUNE 19: Sri Lanka's main Opposition United National Party (UNP) and the moderate Tamil parties on Monday expressed reservations over government decision not to include LTTE in the proposed interim council for the northern and eastern provinces unless the rebel outfit gave up violence and joined the democratic mainstream.Expressing surprise at Sunday's announcement by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, UNP secretary Gamini Athukorale told newsmen here that his party wanted all the concerned political parties of the north and east to be included in the interim council.He was not aware of the reasons for barring the rebel group from the proposed council, UNP leader said adding his party's stand had been conveyed to Chandrika last week.Vice-president of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Ananda Sangari said his party would not take part in the proposed council unless the government made the rebel group a party to its formation.Hardening the government stand on the issue, an official statement here said on Sunday that "the president strongly rejected involving the murderous LTTE in a interim board of the council."The rebel group could join the administration only after giving up its `murderous terror' and enter the democratic process, it said, a move described by the analysts as "contrary to expectations".Thavarajah, the spokesman of the Eelam Peoples' Democratic Party (EPDP), which has the largest number of nine Tamil MPs in the Parliament, said that the government had been issuing contradictory statements over the devolution of powers and the interim council.His party, therefore, preferred a personal clarification from Chandrika before it made any statement.Wilson, a spokesman of the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Front (EPRLF), which formed the first ever administration in the north-eastern provincial council during 1988-90, said administratively it would be very difficult for the government to run any council without the participation of the LTTE."Past experience suggests that an interim administration without the LTTE cannot effectively function," he said adding that all the political parties including the LTTE should be made part of the proposed council's administration.The statement said that "those who can join the proposed interim council are the registered democratic political parties, representing Tamils, Muslims and Sinhala interests in the region."The TULF which has five members in the present Parliament was opposed to the formation of the council at the present juncture when the war was at its height in the northern Jaffna peninsula, he said."What purpose it is going to serve, when the best of province is reeling under the effects of war between the army and the LTTE," he said.Extending full support to Chandrika's stand, Varadarajah Perumal, former chief minister of the north-eastern provincial council, said "the LTTE is at war with the government. They cannot run the council with arms and violence."He said the inclusion of the LTTE in the council could be considered only if there was any breakthrough in the mediation efforts of the international community.T Sitharthan, leader of the Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), whose party has three members in the Parliament, said the interim council without the LTTE would not be effective."But more importantly, is the LTTE interested in taking part in the council? I think they will not join," he said.
