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Former
Minister Sirisena Cooray's Puravasi Peramuna condemned the LTTE attack at
Rajagiriya, and has proposed the setting up of an Apex Council in the
North-East to restore peace in the country. The
General Secretary of Puravasi Peramuna, Wimal Wickremasinghe stated in a
statement yesterday that neither the government's political package nor
the involvement of the Norwegian government would bring peace to the
country. His
statement said that what is needed is a formula which has the support of
the majority of the majority and the majority of the minority; a
compromise which can create a balance between the Sinhala and Tamil needs,
aspirations and fears. "All
previous attempts at finding a solution to this problem failed because of
the errors of extremism and unilaterism. Earlier there were attempts to
impose Sinhala-oriented solutions on a reluctant and resentful Sinhala
populace. Now the attempt is to impose a Tamil-oriented solution on a
reluctant and resentful Sinhala populace. It is necessary to avoid both
extremes and once that is done, the essential precondition for a
scientific compromise formula is created. We believe our formula of an
Apex Council meets these requirements," the statement said. The main
features of the proposed formula are as follows; §
The proposed formula will be
located and therefore implementable without delay, within the parameters
of the 13th Amendment i.e. within the current (1978) Constitution. §
The linking, as distinct from the
merger, of the Northern Province and the Eastern province as they are
constituted currently, through the setting up of an Apex Body. The merger
of the Northern Province and the Eastern Province as they are constituted
now i.e. without any re-demarcation of boundaries, is a major demand of
the Tamil minority. Therefore
the most appropriate appropriate solution will be the linking, as distinct
from merger, through the setting up of an Apex Council. Any two or more
geographically contiguous provinces will have the right to a form of
linkage means of setting up of an Apex Council. The Northern and the
Eastern province (like all the provinces in the country) will have a
provincial council each, elected separately by the people in the two
provinces. Once the
two provincial councils are elected, an Apexc Council or Assembly will be
established consisting or representatives of both the Northern province
and the eastern province. The Apex Council would be accountable to the two
provincial councils and to the Parliament as the supreme and ultimate
legislative authority.
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