New Committee of all parties set up under President

Development and Reconciliation

By Uditha Jayasinghe

In the latest development in creating a conducive environment for finding a political solution to the ethnic issue the new Development and Reconciliation Committee, comprised of representatives of all parties was set up with President Mahinda Rajapaksa as its chair.
Even though the specific functions of the Committee were not immediately available the appointment follows hot on the heels of two political parties, namely the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and National Freedom Front (NFF), being vociferous in their condemnation of the All Party Representatives Committee (APRC). This organisation had up to this point been solely charged with the responsibility of finding a political consensus within the different parties to formulate a universally accepted solution.
However, this changed from yesterday with the appointment of the Development and Reconciliation All Party Committee, which will have its inaugural session tomorrow morning under the leadership of the President. Nonetheless, it was unclear if the government would dissolve the APRC as was advocated by the NFF.
Speaking at a press conference, both UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha and JHU Parliamentarian Champika Ranawaka noted that different sentiments and ideas were expressed regarding a political solution for power devolution to the North and therefore a broader consensus was needed before a final solution could be implemented. Despite threatening to leave the government if a power devolution package that included police powers were given to the North in a previous press conference Ranawaka refused to reiterate such a stance and insisted that the need of the moment was to build a broad discussion platform on the various issues.
“If the people decide on a power devolution package that goes against the stance of our party then we will make a decision. But at the moment what we wish to emphasise is the need for more discussion. We want politicians from the north to come and talk about this problem with the southern parties and form as large and free a dialogue as possible. Democracy is now possible in Sri Lanka. There is no danger of people holding a knife to your throat and threatening you. Those days of LTTE political assassination is over,” he said.
He called on all politicians to take this opportunity to take part in these discussions and his opinion was concurred by Premajayantha who noted that the circumstances that led to the birth of the APRC had changed dramatically over the last few months and therefore a new process might be needed. Both he and Government Spokesmen Keheliya Rambukwella were vehement of the need for development in the north to precede political solutions. They pointed out that the people of the north wished to return home and simply lead peaceful lives.