Rajapaksa wants consensus for pol solution to Tamil issue

There are more parties than one representing Tamils and we look forward to consensus among all,especially on aspects of development,8221; Rajapaksa said here last evening,on the issue of political solution to the ethnic problem.

The President said he also looked forward to a dialogue with all Tamil political parties.

He stated this during a meeting with the visiting delegation from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association CPA and the UK led by Labour Party MP Paul Murphy.

On the question of the provincial administration in Northern Sri Lanka,the CPA-UK delegates were told that the first priority will be local government elections.

After that,there would be elections to the Northern Provincial Council,on the lines of the procedure followed in the East where the LTTE was defeated in 2007,he said.

Rajapaksa said political progress had taken place in the East,after the defeat of 8216;terrorism8217; following which elections were successfully held.

Murphy appreciated the efforts of the Sri Lankan government in defeating the Tiger rebels.

8220;All parties in the United Kingdom stand by you and are ready to help Sri Lanka on Tuesday,8221; he said.

8220;We are happy that terrorism has gone away from this island; that reconstruction,rejuvenation and reconciliation is the order of the day,8221; said Murphy.

Recalling his earlier visit to Sri Lanka,when he went to Kilinochchi which was at that time under LTTE control,Murphy said the situation here was similar to that in the UK which had won the war in Northern Ireland to secure peace.

The President explained to the delegation that what the people wanted the most today in the North of Sri Lanka were the essentials like water,electricity,schools,health services and education,an official statement said.

8220;There was a yearning for development among the Tamil people,8221; Rajapaksa said,asserting that there could be no development without peace and vice-versa.

On efforts regarding reconciliation,the President told the delegates of the work being done by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission appointed for looking into the last phase of the Eelam IV war.

Rajapaksa said he regretted that organisations such as Amnesty International,Human Rights Watch and international Crisis Group that had been invited to give evidence before the Commission had refused to do so.

The Commission was open to all including the United Nations,he said,8221;emphasising that reconciliation in Sri Lanka needed a home grown solution,and not one that is transported from elsewhere,even from Northern Ireland.8221;

8220;It must be based on our own experience,while we are ready to learn from the experience of others,8221; the Sri Lankan President said.

Rajapaksa also said Sri Lanka had clearly made the fastest progress in the rehabilitation of child soldiers and youth,8221;who had been made the victims of armed conflict.8221;

On devolution,he said whatever solution arrived at must be one that is acceptable to the people.

8220;Rajapaksa was emphatic in stating that what the LTTE wanted could not be given,8221; the statement said.

He,however,said that any reasonable aspects of devolution,for which all parties have consensual agreement,can be granted by Parliament.

The President said he would encourage all parties to come to a settlement and that Parliament must finally decide,as there was the need for a two-third majority for any Constitutional change.