'UPFA’s peace talk plans do not violate SLFP-JVP agreement' - JVP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 May 2004, 19:39 GMT]
The peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, being considered by the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), do not violate the agreement reached by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna before the two parties joined to form the UPFA, said Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, the propaganda secretary of the JVP, speaking to journalists Thursday evening in Colombo.

Mr. Weerawansa spoke to journalists after a meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse. He said that the JVP also wanted a negotiated solution to the ethnic conflict.

Mr. Somawnasa Amarasinghe, the JVP leader, who was associated with Mr. Weerawansa, said however that his party would not accept any sole representative status bestowed on the LTTE. Mr. Amarasinghe lived in exile in London, U.K., for several years, fearing criminal prosecution in Sri Lanka for violence in the South during the JVP’s insurgency. He returned to Sri Lanka on January 20, 2004, after his party’s alliance with the President’s own SLFP, for the General Elections in April, enabled him to shed the fear of being prosecuted for alleged crimes.

Mr. Amarasinghe said that the UPFA should also hold talks with other Tamil parties that want peace. “Every Tamil citizen who wants peace is important.”

Responding to a question as to what would happen if the LTTE rejected the preconditions for peace talks set by the UPFA government of Sri Lanka, Mr. Amarasinghe asked, “How could a movement reject the preconditions of a majority government?”