Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremsinghe said that the national issue should be resolved with a home grown solution before the present Parliament’s term ended.

Addressing the joint Opposition May Day rally in Jaffna, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the inability of the present government to resolve the national issue had resulted in UN Human rights commission passing a resolution calling on Sri Lanka to find a political solution in line with the proposals of the LLRC.

However, he said, Sri Lanka should not allow the matter to be internationalised.  Therefore he stressed the need for a joint effort by the government and the opposition to resolve the issue as soon as possible. “All citizens of this country are children of one mother, and, therefore, all should get together as one without delay,” he said, quoting the national anthem.

Stating that TNA leader R. Sampathan was waving a national flag at the May Day procession, he said the government should have got Kumaran Pathmanthan to wave a national flag too.

Mr. Sampanthan, in his speech, said his party was ready to work with the government again, to find a political solution if the government was willing to change its stance.

DPF leader Mano Gansesan, TNA, UNP MPs and the Nawa Sihala Urumaya Party leader Sarath Manamendra also participated in the event.( Yohan Perera & Romesh Madushanka)