Tamil parties welcome peace call

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 November 1998, 16:23 GMT]
All of the Tamil political parties in Colombo welcomed LTTE leader, Veluppillai Prabhaharan's, call for peace negotiations with the Sri Lankan government. The LTTE leader made this statement in his Maaveerar, (great heroes), day speech last evening. He went on to say that a negotiated solution to the conflict should occur through third party mediation.

A senior leader of Sri Lanka's main opposition party, the UNP, Mr.A.C.S Hameed, a former foreign minister, said that he welcomed Prabhaharan's position on peace and third party mediation.

The EPDP said that people wanted peace above everything else and hence, the LTTE's leader's stand as outlined in his Maaveerar day speech is positive.

The leader of the PLOTE, Dharmalingam Sitharthan, and EPRLF leader, Suresh Premachandran, also expressed similar views.

However, the latter, while welcoming the LTTE leader's statement on third party mediation and peace negotiations, said that he had reservations about his (Prabhaharan's) opposition to the government restoring civil administration in Jaffna.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Secretary, Mr. Rauf Hakeem MP, agreed with the LTTE leader that it would be necessary to involve third party mediation in a peace dialogue. Mr Hakeem went on to say that the aspirations of the muslim community should be taken into account in negotiations between the LTTE and Sri Lanka government.

The general secretary of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratna, said that he supported the LTTE's stand on peace negotiation but added that his party was against the involvement of foreign countries in mediation.