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Sri Lankan's Nine Political Parties Support Peace Talks With Tiger Rebels
Sri Lanka's nine political parties had pledged their support to the government to begin peace talks with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, the state-owned Daily News said on Tuesday, December 12.
In interviews with the paper on Monday, the ruling People's Alliance (PA) said that it was in favor for the talks with the Tiger rebels but did not want any conditions laid. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party, a flagship party of PA, said it supported the talks on the basis that they are unconditional and the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) give up their quest for a separate state for the minority Tamils in the country's north and east.
The National Unity Alliance and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress said that they were all for peace and now it was the time to grab the opportunity.
The main opposition United National Party said they had always been for a negotiated settlement provided there was a consensus of all political parties and all concerned groups along with the Tiger rebels. The government should grab the opportunity for peace talks.
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party said it was the right time for the government to start talks with the Tiger rebels. It must do this in consultation with the main opposition parties and follow the negotiations in consensus with Britain and Norway.
The Communist Party said its stand was the same as that of the government. They supported a negotiated settlement and hoped it would lead to the successful end to the long-running ethnic problem.
The Tamil United Liberation Front said it was always for a negotiated settlement and hoped the process would begin soon for the solution of the ethnic crisis and the problems of the minorities.
The Eelam People's Democratic Party welcomed the peace proposals and said they had no objection to any peace talks. However, the Tiger rebels had still not instilled sufficient confidence and it is up to them to prove the sincerity of their intentions.
The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front said it would support the government if the Tiger rebels were sincere. It was high time that a solution to the long drawn out conflict was evolved.
The LTTE rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran offered to hold unconditional peace talks with the government late last month to end the country's 17- year bloody ethnic war in the north and east where the Tiger rebels want an independent homeland for minority Tamils.
However, the government, skeptical of the prospects of the possible peace talks owing to the record of Tiger rebels' violation of agreements with the government, has not yet made a final decision.
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