JVP wants urgent Parliament debate on MoU

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 February 2002, 17:08 GMT]
The Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Saturday said that a memorandum with the signatures of forty parliamentarians has been submitted to the Speaker to summon the parliament immediately to discuss the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)signed between the United National Front government and the Tamil Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Friday.

"The present truce which followed the signing of the MoU between the UNF government and the LTTE is a serious threat to the security, territorial integrity and the sovereignty of the country," said Mr.Wimal Weerawansa, JVP parliamentary group leader.

Protest by a JVP union of Buddhist monks who are undergraduates in universities. The monks' union began the fast in downtown Colombo on Thursday.(Photo:TamilNet)

The JVP, which is the third largest party in the parliament, has sixteen seats in the 225-member parliament.

"It was said that the documents of the MoU were signed separately by the Prime Minister and the LTTE. Matters relating to these documents were not informed to the parliament, ruling party parliamentary group and the Cabinet. It had been hidden even to the Head of the State," the memorandum to the Speaker said.

Meanwhile several leading trade unions in the plantation sector Saturday urged President Chandrika Kumaratunge and other political parties not to sabotage the internationally monitored cease-fire agreement now in force.

The Lanka National Workers Congress, Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union, United Plantation Workers Union and National Labour Union have in a memorandum stated that all patriotic forces in the country should take steps to safeguard the peace process now being taken forward with the signing of the MoU between the United National Front (UNF) Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

These trade unions have rejected the accusations by Sinhala hard liners that the MoU signed between the UNF government and LTTE would pave way for the division of the country.

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