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| 9/2/2006 - The Island | |||
| G.L, Milinda share experiences with Mahinda's peace team
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| Former Minister Prof. G. L. Pieris yesterday briefed a group of ministers and officials in his former capacity as head of the peace delegation during the tenure of Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister. The briefing took place at the Presidential Secretariat on the second day of a two-day programme to appraise the government delegation of the peace process ahead of the Norwegian-facilitated talks on the implementation of the Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA) in Geneva. Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga urged Norway to arrange a meeting with the LTTE shortly after the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar last August. The LTTE ignored Norwegian efforts to arrange a meeting and in November engineered the defeat of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the presidential polls by denying a sizeable Tamil vote to him. President Mahinda Rajapakse is believed to have requested both Pieris and Milinda Moragoda, a key member of Wickremesinghe’s delegation to share their experiences with his team. "The President took us by surprise," a UNP source said. Moragoda is expected to brief the government delegation on Saturday. The Island learns that Moragoda explained his inability to participate on Wednesday as he had to visit New Delhi. The Delhi visit is believed to be on behalf of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. Security forcers’ chiefs had been among the participants. Pieris recently offered his support to President Rajapakse to revive the peace process. Pieris met Rajapakse at Temple Trees fuelling speculation that he was on the verge of joining the government. Both Wickremesinghe and Pieris categorically denied this. Wickremesinghe has authorised the Pieris and Moragoda to accept the government invitation. The Island learns that the government would keep the UNP abreast of the developments. Highly placed government sources said that the forthcoming talks in Geneva would focus on the CFA. Referring to a UNP statement issued Wednesday afternoon an official said that the government, the LTTE and the Norwegian government were clear on this issue. The UNP demanded the government to reveal the agenda for talks Talks collapsed in the third week of April 2003. The LTTE quit the negotiating table accusing Wickremesinghe’s government of slow progress, seven months before Kumaratunga took over Defence, Interior and Media ministries leading to the dissolution of parliament and general polls in April 2004. |
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