Amid allegations by the Opposition that some ministers had made contradictory statements regarding the LLRC report, the government gave an assurance in Parliament yesterday that it would implement the recommendations.
Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, the monitoring MP of the External Affairs Ministry, said that nowhere had the government said that these recommendations would be done away with. Mr. Gunawardena who played a key role in the diplomatic activities in Geneva against the US –sponsored resolution said that the progress on the implementation of the recommendations would be visible within the next few months.
“We have not altered our stand. There are numerous institutions involved in the process. If we implement these recommendations, the Opposition will run short of slogans. Then, the UNP would not be able cling to the TNA to do politics,” he said.
He cited the rehabilitation of over 11,000 former LTTE combatants, the allocation of US $ 700 million for the northern development drive, the completion of de-mining operations over an area of 1412 square kilometres and the introduction of the trilingual language policy as major achievements in the march towards reconciliation.
Mr. Gunawardena confronted TNA MP Suresh Premachandran during the debate and referred to him as a stumbling block to evolving a political solution.
“We know TNA leader R. Sampanthan is genuinely interested in resolving this problem. Yet Mr. Premachandran is hindering progress by coming up with extremist views. We ask you not to do so. You are trying to drive the Tamil community towards extremism. It will take us nowhere,” he said.
Referring to the Geneva resolution, he said that although it was a non-binding resolution, it could be a first step in the strategy of certain sections of the international community to topple the government.
Source: www.dailymirror.lk (04.04.2012)
