"No talks on the basis of ISGA"-UPFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 August 2004, 02:15 GMT]
United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge declared Tuesday that the Sri Lanka government will not recommence peace talks with the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) on the basis of the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals submitted by the LTTE, State-run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) announced in its Wednesday morning news bulletin in English, Sinhala and Tamil quoting Minister Mr.Maithiripala Sirisena, the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

The SLFP is the major constituent of the minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government.

Ms Kumaratunge made her stand clear on the resumption of peace talks at the executive council meeting of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance held Tuesday, SLBC reported. quoting Mr.Maithiripala Sirisena.

At the UPFA ex-co meeting the leaders of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) demanded the President to make her stand clear on the resumption of peace talks with the LTTE citing various media reports suggesting President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge was prepared to commence talks with the LTTE on the basis of ISGA, sources said.

JVP leaders earlier warned that it would pull out from the UPFA government if it resumed peace talks with the LTTE on the basis of its ISGA proposals which they claimed to be the stepping stone for a separate state, sources said

Other constituent parties of the UPFA, the Communist Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party, and National Unity Alliance also attended the ex-co meeting of the UPFA.