UNF govt to hold parliamentary debate on MoU

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 February 2002, 12:02 GMT]
The United National Front government said Thursday that it is willing to conduct a full parliamentary debate on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and the Liberation Tigers as soon as it is signed. "The MoU between the UNF government and the Liberation Tigers has not yet been finalised. The meeting of leaders of the political parties represented in the parliament would be summoned to fix the date for the debate, once the MoU came into force. The government is willing to hold a full debate on it if the opposition wanted," Mr.W.J.M.Loku Bandara, Leader of the House and Minister of Justice told parliament Thursday morning.

Mr.Loku Bandara made this announcement in reply to queries by a Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarian Mr.Wimal Weerawanse and amidst high speculation in Colombo political circles that the MoU between the government and the LTTE would be signed within next forty-eight hours.

Meanwhile, UNF sources said that the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe is scheduled to meet President Chandrika Kumaratunge within next few hours to clarify matters pertaining to the cease-fire proposals incorporated in the MoU, government sources said.

Political sources said that relevant documents regarding the MoU would be exchanged between the UNF government and the LTTE Friday.

State and private electronic media Thursday gave wide coverage to the news about signing of MoU between the government and LTTE within next forty-eight hours.