JHU opposes SL President's proposed talks with LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2004, 15:58 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), which has emerged as the third force in Sri Lanka's southern politics by winning nine parliamentary seats in the last week's general election, Thursday said it would oppose any move to hold direct talks only with the LTTE to come to an agreement to find a political solution to the ethnic crisis.

The JHU spokesman, Venerable Ratna Thera, was speaking in response to President Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge's address to the nation Wednesday night that her United Peoples Freedom Alliance government would make arrangements to resume talks with the LTTE shortly.

The Thera said any talks to find a solution to the ethnic question should be held with all Tamil political parties and not with the LTTE alone.

The JHU was against holding talks with the LTTE to find a political solution and accommodating some form of federal arrangement, the JHU spokesman added.

JHU said it would further oppose any move by the UPFA government to make way for Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to come to parliament and become Prime Minister by formulating a new constitution.