UNP accused of treason

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 September 1998, 20:12 GMT]
A Sinhala language newspaper, Silumina, run by the state owned Lakehouse group accused the opposition United National Party and its leader Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, of committing treason against the Sri Lankan state.



The paper's editorial in the 13 September issue said Mr. Wickramasinghe had betrayed the nation by openly asking the president to conduct unconditional talks with the enemy, LTTE.

The paper charges the UNP with conducting peace talks with the LTTE in the past.

It also accuses the UNP of engaging in cheap tactics to gain narrow political advantages by blaming the government whenever something goes wrong in the country.

The PA government, however, the state-owned paper says, is committed to bring about a peaceful settlement to the crisis, after taking all these facts into consideration.

The government has never ruled out any talks with the LTTE, but is against holding unconditional talks, the paper said.

Furthermore, the paper advises the two main parties to come together in a bipartisan approach to the conflict.