JVP opposed to UPFA’s decision to talk only with LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 May 2004, 16:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s United People’s Freedom Alliance, led by President Chandrika Kumaratunge, in a statement Sunday said that the UPFA government would hold peace talks only with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, thus conceding the LTTE’s demand to be recognized as the ‘sole representatives’ of the Tamil people, according to wire reports. The Marxist and ultra-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, one of the main constituents of the UPFA, has however announced it is opposed to the decision, Tamil press reports said.

The reports quoted knowledgeable sources as saying that the JVP is angered by the UPFA announcement and would hold a meeting of its party hierarchy on Monday to discuss the decision made by the President to talk only with the LTTE, thereby giving them recognition as the sole representatives of the Tamil people, and the reported willingness on the part of the UPFA to consider the Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals during proposed peace talks.

The Deshahitheshi Jathika Viyaparaya, or Patriotic National Movement (PNM), a coalition of the JVP, hardline Buddhist monks and members of the President's own Sri Lanka Freedom Party, has condemned the attempt to hold peace talks with the LTTE, and said that accepting the ISGA as the basis for talks would be tantamount to ‘treason.’ The PNM has brought together Sinhala intellectuals, Buddhist monks, students, and farmers, and was a key factor in the success of the UPFA in the April 2 elections.

The JVP is expected to make its position known after the meeting of the party hierarchy. Following the President’s recent announcements regarding peace talks, the JVP, which had been holding frequent meetings with the media even after the elections on April 2, has been avoiding such meetings, the press reports said.