Kandy - United National Party and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday afternoon that the national problem should not have been allowed to go beyond Sri Lankan shores.

The country’s internal problem had now gone to the entire world including India, Bangladesh and many other countries of the East and West, Wickremesinghe said at a meeting held at Sri Pushpadana Society hall.

Attorney-at-law Lal Wijenayake chaired the meeting organised by

the ‘Nidahase Wedikawa’ (Platform for Freedom).

The national issue should have been resolved within the country itself with the consensus of all groups without allowing it to be internationalised. Besides, a political solution was a must. The government itself has stated that it would find a political solution, Wickremesinghe said.

Wickremesinghe asked the government to ensure that the chairman of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) presented a report within the next two or three weeks with proposals for a suitable solution to the national problem that would be acceptable to all communities.

"The United National Party has already presented its proposals to the APRC" he said.

The Opposition leader charged that the country was moving toward dictatorship and that democracy was under threat. The freedom of speech and freedom to live were fast disappearing.

He stressed the need for a change of Constitution which would strip the Executive President of powers and restore the powers of the Prime Minister and Parliament.

Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Mahajana Pakshaya Mangala Samaraweera, MP Manoganeshan, Attorney-at-law Lal Wijenayake, Sunil Jayasekera, Attorney-at-law Sudharshana Seneviratne, and Jayasekara Bandara also addressed the meeting.

UNP Deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya MP, General Secretary, Tissa Attanayake, Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella, Kandy Mayor L. B. Aluwihare, Deputy Mayor Suminda Wickremasinghe, several Central Provincial Council Members and Kandy MMG, were present.