JVP opposes Oslo initiative

By V.S.Sambandan

COLOMBO, MARCH 13. Sri Lanka's Left-radical Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) today announced its opposition to the recently- commenced Norwegian initiative to commence direct talks between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The JVP, which has staged two futile insurrections, opposed the Indian intervention to solve the ethnic crisis, which boiled over to a nation-wide protest.

The thinking behind the JVP's position on the Norwegian initiative, the first such to be announced by a significant political party, is that Oslo had ``imperialistic intentions'' and that ``no agreement made in Norway has succeeded in bringing peace to other countries,'' according to the party's General Secretary, Mr. Tilvin Silva.

On the draft constitutional reforms, the JVP wanted ``total transparency'' in the talks between the President and the Opposition Leader.

Probe continues

Investigation into Friday's explosion and gun-battles on a road leading to Parliament continued, with police detaining more persons suspected to be linked to the LTTE, for questioning today.

Links are being established as to how the militants gained access to the spot, which is a few kilometres from Parliament. Police have said that the suspects who have been detained were natives from the eastern Batticaloa town and employed in jewellery shops here. The deadly explosives are believed to have been brought into the city in cricket kits.

UNI reports:

LTTE trawler explodes

An LTTE trawler, laden with explosives, exploded in mid-sea alongwith several of its occupants after a fierce battle with the Sri Lankan Navy at sea off Delft Island in Jaffna, while 10 militants were killed by security forces elsewhere in the north- east.

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Section  : International
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