12 March 2019 11:50 pm
President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa should get together to resolve the national issue, TNA Leader and MP R. Sampanthan told Parliament today.
He said there was no reason why all three leaders could not come together and come up with a reasonable solution to the national issue based on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
“All these leaders have committed themselves to a political solution as stated by them in the past. Former president Rajapaksa committed himself several times to a political solution. He did so on the day that the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) was set up. He also made the same commitment through the joint statement issued after war in May 2009. Even the present government has informed UNHRC that it is committed to a political solution. In addition there was a select committee headed by then MP Mangala Munasinghe to come up with a solution. This committee came up with some proposals while former president Chandrika Kumaratunga also come up with a proposal for a new constitution. Agreements were reached on some issues. However no final solution was reached. One cannot understand why a final solution cannot be reached given the situation,” the TNA leader said.
“The former president in particular committed himself to a political solution several times. Therefore we appeal to him to join the other two leaders and come up with a solution."
The TNA leader recalled that the civil war would have been avoided had the parties concerned conferred with each other and found a permanent solution and urged the main parties to commit themselves to a solution.
“We are giving you enough opportunities to resolve the national issue,” he said and added that
the economy should be an export-oriented one that draws investors from here and abroad and should create opportunities for the youth. “You will not be able to draw investors and create opportunities for the youth without resolving the national issue” the TNA leader said. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)