Tamil parties sign MOU

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 October 2001, 17:42 GMT]
Leaders of the Tamil parties' alliance Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to contest the forthcoming general election under one symbol. Mr.R.Sampanthan on behalf of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Mr.N.Kumarakuruparan on behalf of All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Mr.N.Sri Kantha on behalf of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and Mr.Suresh Premachandran of behalf of Eelam Peoples' Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF-Suresh wing) have signed the MOU.

"The primary objective of the MOU is to exert pressure on any main political party that comes to power at the forthcoming general election to declare a ceasefire, lifting the economic embargo on Tamil areas particularly areas which do not come under the state armed forces, to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and to enter into talks with the LTTE to arive at an acceptable political solution to the Tamil national question through Norwegian initiative", a spokesman of the alliance said.

He added that the Tamil parties' alliance would direct its parliamentary strength after the general election to achieve its objective contained in the MOU.

The leaders of four Tamil parties' alliance Saturday met at the residence of a neutral person and signed the MOU.

However the MOU was not released to the press. "The Tamil parties' alliance would issue a joint statement later based on the MOU", a spokesman of the alliance said.

Meanwhile, an alliance spokesman said that nomination lists of the Tamil parties' alliance would be handed over during next week at the respective district secretariats in the northeast province.