Sihala Urumaya urges President to nullify MoU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 February 2002, 20:18 GMT]
The Sihala Urumaya (SU), the hard-line Sinhala nationalist party, declared Tuesday that it would launch a campaign among the Sinhalese to urge President Chandrika Kumaratunga to use her executive powers to invalidate the cease-fire agreement between the United National Front government and the LTTE. Mr. Tilak Karunaratne, leader of the Sihala Urumaya (SU), addressing a press conference in Colombo Tuesday said that his party has decided to file a case on Thursday in the Court of Appeal seeking the nullification of the MoU and the cease-fire agreement as these, according to him have contravened the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

Speaking at a public meeting near Colombo Monday, President Kumaratunga too declared that the MoU was unconstitutional.

The JVP, SU and several Sinhala nationalist groups of Buddhist clergy have had several rounds of discussion since last week on a joint strategy to oppose the UNF government's peace efforts. The President is also speaking to the JVP regarding a common plan to take on the UNF regarding the MoU, sources said.

"The LTTE is banned in Sri Lanka. The UNF government has signed the cease-fire agreement with a proscribed organisation. Hence the present cease-fire agreement contravenes the country's constitution," Mr. Karunaratna, a former Imperial Chemical Industries engineer turned multi-millionaire businessman said.

Mr. Udaya Gammanpilla, chief organiser of the SU said that the party would launch an agitation campaign against the implementation of the present ceasefire agreement on March 2 opposite Fort, Colombo."

The main objective of the campaign is to persuade on President Chandrika Kumaratunge to use her executive powers to invalidate the MoU signed by the UNF government and the LTTE last week. Such campaigns would be held throughout the country", said chief organiser at Tuesday's press conference.