Sri Lanka opposition exhorts rejection of cease-fire deal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 18:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition parties and several Sinhala nationalist groups held a large public rally of more than five thousand in Colombo Tuesday, condemning peace negotiations between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe's government and the Liberation Tigers as a conspiracy to divide the island. The main speakers at the rally exhorted the Sinhala people to reject the cease-fire agreement between Colombo and the LTTE.

Mr. Anura Banadaranaike (left), the JVP's propaganda secretary Mr. Wimal Weerawanse and Sri Lanka's former cricket captain, and parliamentarian, Mr. Arjuna Ranatunga (right) on stage at the rally Tuesday. (Photo:TamilNet)

The joint opposition rally began around 4.30 p.m. Tuesday at Nugegoda junction, a busy suburb of Colombo.

Former speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament and President Kumaratunga's Brother, Mr. Anura Banadaranaike, the Sinhala nationalist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna's powerful propaganda secretary, Mr. Wimal Weerawanse and the convenor of the stridently Sinhala nationalist National Bikkhu Front were the keynote speakers at the rally.

People's Alliance MPs Mr. Arjuna Ranatunga (ex-captain of Sri Lanka's cricket team) and former minister, Mr. Mangala Samaraweera also attended the rally.

The opposition parties and Sinhala nationalist groups which together organised the rally styled themselves as the "National Movement for Dignified Peace and Against the Partition of the Country."