24 February, 2006 - Published 14:50 GMT

Govt. challenged to reveal CFA policy

The main opposition in Sri Lanka, United National Party (UNP), has challenged the government to reveal the actual policy on Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed with the Tamil Tigers.

UNP and Opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe said the government’s attempts in Geneva to portray the CFA as illegal have failed as the parties have agreed to implement it after the two-day talks.

The CFA was signed by Wickramasinghe, as the then Prime Minister, and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on 22 February 2002.

CFA "illegal"

Opening the talks at Chateau de Bossey, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said the CFA was against the constitution of Sri Lanka.

“President Rajapaksa was the Prime Minister of the then government of President Kumaratunga which pledged to implement the CFA,” Wickramasinghe told journalists in Colombo.

He recalled that de Silva was a senior minister of that government which included four cabinet ministers from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).

Not only the Supreme Court in Sri Lanka, Wickramasinghe added, but the international community also endorsed the agreement by pledging millions of aid for the island nation’s development projects.

The UNP leader urged the JVP and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), who signed electoral pacts with Rajapaksa to abolish the CFA, to reveal their current policy to the public as the government delegation have agreed with the LTTE to fully implement it.

He challenged the JVP and JHU, “who are responsible for hundreds of lives”, to publicly admit that they were wrong on CFA.