"No solution within unitary constitution" -TULF President

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 January 2002, 18:43 GMT]
"We have clearly told the United National Party (UNP) and the People's Alliance (PA) that no political solution could be found to the Tamil national question within a unitary form of government", said Mr.M.Sivasithambaram, President of the Tamil United Liberation Front and the Tamil National Alliance national list parliamentarian at a press conference held Saturday in Colombo.

The veteran Tamil leader met the press on his return to Colombo Saturday from Chennai, South India after getting medical treatment. Mr.Sivasithambaram said, "peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam should be carried out by the present United National Front government without any further delay."

Commenting on the peace process, Mr.Sivasithambaram asked why the government has delayed commencing negotiations with the LTTE. "The delay in starting peace talks would give room for Sinhala hard-liners to whip up opposition to finding a just and reasonable solution to the Tamil national question," he stressed.

The sole national list parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance is expected to be sworn in as MP on January 8th when parliament reconvenes.