PM officially requests Norway's assistance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 December 2001, 19:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe Thursday officially requested the government of Norway to recommence its facilitator role with regards to bringing about negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Mr. Wickremasinghe made his request in a telephone conversation with the Norwegian Prime Minister Thursday morning, a press communiqué released by the Prime Minister's office in Colombo said.

In the meantime, the general Secretary of the United National Party (UNP) – the main constituent of the ruling United National Front (UNF) - Mr.Senarath Kapukotuwa said Thursday that no decision has been taken in regard to lifting the ban imposed on the LTTE in Sri Lanka. The decision to lift the ban would be taken depending on the credibility of the future actions of the LTTE, he said.

"The LTTE should prove its credibility not only by words but also by deeds. The ban imposed on the LTTE by some foreign countries could not be compared with the ban on it in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan government did not ban the LTTE locally when it requested the international community to ban it in their countries," Mr. Kapukotuwa pointed out.

He made this observation in response to a statement made by the Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), third largest political party represented in the new parliament that the ban on LTTE in Sri Lanka should be only be lifted after it abandoned its separate state policy and surrendered its arms.