JVP praises army, wows to overthrow Ranil govt.

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 January 2003, 23:14 GMT]
The Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sri Lanka’s powerful leftist Sinhala party, Monday praised the stand taken by the Sri Lanka army’s northern command on the question of high security zones in Jaffna and accused Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of conspiring with the Liberation Tigers to divide the island according to a secret pact. The JVP is the second largest opposition party in Sri Lanka’s Parliament.

Addressing a press conference Monday morning in downtown Colombo, the party’s propaganda secretary, Mr. Wimal Weerawanse, charged that the Prime Minister had made a secret pact with the LTTE while he (the PM) was the leader of the opposition and that he is now trying to dismantle the high security zones (HSZ) in Jaffna according to this secret agreement.

JVP’s propaganda secretary Mr. Wimal Weerawanse, addressing the press conference, Monday.

Mr. Weerawanse claimed that Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Jon Westborg was removed from his post because the JVP, President Kumaratunga and the Buddhist clergy protested against his interference in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.

“The Sri Lankan security forces took a bold stand on the issue of removing the HSZs in the north. But we are not sure whether even they can hold their ground in the face of agreements which the United National Front government may reach with the LTTE on this matter during the course of the current peace talks”, Mr. Weerawanse said.

“Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is trying to imitate the style of LTTE leader. The background and arrangements for his address to the nation on Sunday was fashioned after the setting for the LTTE leader’s great heroes’ day speech last November”, he added.

That PM had to address the nation at this juncture showed that the UNF government is facing a crisis, according to the JVP leader. He said that the UNF government had not done anything for the people during its year long rule.

The press conference was called to explain the JVP’s ‘Jana Bala’ (People’s Power) rally to be held in Colombo on Wednesday in protest against the peace talks, the rising cost of living and privatization.

Mr. Weerawanse wowed there would be many mass agitations like Jana Bala in the future which would eventually lead to the overthrow of the UNF government.

The JVP failed to capture power in 1971 and 1989 through bloody insurrections. Thousands of Sinhala youth were killed when the Sri Lankan security forces brutally suppressed the rebellions.