UNP, LSSP oppose referendum move to scrap CFA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 16:49 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) and Chairman of the All Party Representatives Council (APRC) Tissa Vitarane have voiced their opposition for the proposal to hold a referendum to nullify the ceasefire agreement (CFA) signed by Ranil Wickremasinghe, the then Prime Minister and Velupillai Pirapaharan, Leader of the LTTE on 22 February 2002, media sources said.

Sunday Observer, English weekend of the State run Lake House group of newspapers quoting a top official of the Presidential Secretariat published a news item that the government is considering the possibility of holding a referendum to cancel the ceasefire agreement.

Commenting on the report Tissa Attanayake, General Secretary of the UNP, said the government's intention of holding of referendum to cancel the ceasefire agreement is ludicrous. Parties to the CFA have been given the right to cancel the agreement by giving 14 days' notice to other party. Hence there is no need for a referendum for this purpose, he added.

Mr. Vitarane, Minister and Chairman of the APRC also expressed the same view. Mr. Vitarane is the general secretary of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), one of the constituent political parties of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government.

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