Elections forced by IMF: Pararajasingham

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 October 1999, 11:18 GMT]
The government has been forced to conduct the Presidential election due to the refusal by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to provide any financial assistance to the country until the war is brought to an end, said Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham, M.P for the Batticaloa district.

He was speaking at the annual prize- giving celebrations of the Batticaloa-Kallady Sivananda National School held yesterday.

Mr. Pararajasingham further said that the PA government was continuing the war despite repeated requests by several countries to initiate dialogue with the parties concerned to bring peace in the war-torn country.

He reminded the gathering that Sri Lanka was ranked second in the world in human rights violation. He stated that the government was very keenly conducting the war, while at the same time telling the world that they were working towards to find a political settlement to the ethnic problem.

Mr. Pararajasingham pointed out that the President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge has yielded to the pressure of the Sinhala chauvinists, like her predecessors. This has been amply proved by the withdrawal of the Equal Opportunity Bill in the Parliament he said.

He added that while the government had spent 2,500 million rupees for educational development, it has spent 55,000 million rupees in conducting the war this year.

He emphasised that third party mediation is urgently needed to find a political settlement to the ethnic problem, to bring the war to an end.

Mr. P. Anandarajah, Principal of the Batticaloa-Kallady Sivananda National School presided. Ramakrishnan Mission Swami Jeevanandaji and Ajaratmanandaji blessed the occasion. Batticaloa zonal Director of Education, S. S. Manoharan and Municipal Commissioner S. Navaneethan also attended the function.