Reveal details of Indo-SL agreement

By Yohan Perera

The main opposition United National Party (UNP) today requested the government to disclose to parliament the details on the recent agreement it had reached with India.

This request came in the wake Opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent visit to India.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a news conference a top level Indian delegation including Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao were due in Sri Lanka for follow up talks on the joint agreement between India and Sri Lanka.

He said the joint agreement with India was signed by Foreign Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris on behalf of the Sri Lankan government and it was the duty of the government to apprise parliament about it.

Mr. Attanayake said the government had agreed to look into allegations of human rights violations and asked how the government had agreed to this when it had opposed what it calls the Darusman report, which alleged that human rights violations had occurred in Sri Lanka.

He said Sri Lanka had also agreed to sign and implement the CEPA agreement which was harmful to this country.

“Government must clarify this in parliament,” Mr. Attanayake said adding that the recent statement by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) welcoming the joint agreement between India and Sri Lanka clearly implied that the Sri Lankan government had given in to India.