LTTE accuses Rajapakse of political duplicity

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 July 2006, 11:37 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Political Head, S.P. Thamilchlevan ruled out negotiations on devolution of powers based on the Sri Lankan unitary constitution, Wednesday and charged Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan president, for adopting a duplicitous approach, when asked to comment Colombo's move on setting up a committee to examine devolution of powers. "Colombo's call for talks based on Sri Lankan constitution, rejected by Tamils decades ago, is a deliberate act of deceivig the International Community while failing to implement practical steps to implement the fundamental terms of Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) as agreed in Geneva I."

Sri Lankan Government on Wednesday said it has set up a 12-member multiethnic committee "to examine devolution of powers," as a first step to address the Tamil demand of separation.

"The concept of devolution of powers, based on the Sri Lankan Unitary Constitution, has been rejected decades ago by Tamils," Mr. Thamilchelvan said.

"Locked into its constitution, Colombo is attempting to deceive the International Community by inviting Tamils to reinvent the wheel while letting loose horrifying terror on the Tamil population," added LTTE's Political Head.

If Sri Lanka's President is genuinely interesed in advancing the peace process he should immediately stop the violence against Tamil civilians, remove the economic embargo on the NorthEast, and create conditions for peace with the help of Norwegian facilitators, the Political Head said. The "most immediate need of the moment," according to the LTTE Political Head was the execution of measures agreed in Geneva on the implementation of Ceasefire agreement.