Opposition on a concerted effort to derail peace process — GL

by Rohan Mathes

Cabinet spokesman Prof. G. L. Peiris at the cabinet briefing on Thursday at the Information Department accused opposition parties of engaging in a concerted effort to set the country ablaze by organising agitation campaigns to sabotage and cripple the peace process which is expected to resume in mid October following the final consultation of LTTE legal experts in the Irish capital of Dublin.

Prof. Peiris claimed that as a part of this mischievous campaign the opposition parties strived to antagonise and provoke even India by misinformation and misrepresentation of the realities of the peace process, but ended-up in a dismal failure.

Indian Premier Vajpayee had met Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in New York recently and has had a very warm and cordial relationship and discussions pertaining to the ethnic conflict. Premier Vajpayee had fully endorsed the modalities put in place to solve the ethnic conflict by the Government and had offered his fullest support and goodwill in this regard.

Minister Peiris re-iterated that the "Interim Administration" structure is a concept common to all the major political parties and there was no other way out. There was a definite convergence of opinion in this regard.

However, he pointed out that there is dissent in the functions and responsibilities of the Interim Administration. These issues being more complicated and of a technical nature needs further discussion and negotiation, when talks resume.

"The first six rounds of talks have been very positive. Federalism was accepted by the LTTE instead of a separate state in the Oslo talks. This was a major breakthrough", Peiris noted.

Peiris further pointed out that modifying and re-vamping the structure of the future peace talks could be necessary.

"Massive public awareness campaigns will be organised with 100 activists in every electorate to interact with the civil society and inform the general public the Government’s true stand and attitude in the peace process", he added.