The JVP yesterday scotched rumours that it had softened its stance on devoltuion and was now amenable to some kind of federal arrangement.

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva told The Island that his party had always advocated a unitary Sri Lanka and its policy remained intact in spite of baseless stories being floated in some quarters. He said he believed the govenrment was behind those rumours to discredit the JVP in the run up to the Uva Provincial Council elections.

The JVP, Silva said, would never support the full implementation of the 13th Amendement, which posed a threat to the country’s unitary status. "We are also opposed to any kind of federal arrangement as that is what the separatis forces are striving to achieve at this juncture to inch towards their goal, having failed to achieve it militarily," he said.

Sri Lanka had no need for a federal solution and any attempt to impose a federal model on it would inevitably lead to its break up, he said adding that the JVP had never discussed federalism as a solution at any of its intenal fora. He said federal solutions had been implemented in some other countries either to dismember them or unite them but Sri Lanka must never experiment with federalism.