“No substantive difference between the two IA documents” claims Government spokesman

[July 28, 2003 - 10.15 GMT] 

“There are no substantive differences between the two documents”, said Government spokesman, Prof. G.L. Peiris today Monday 28 July, referring to the ongoing issue of ‘two’ sets of proposals on the Interim structure, one sent to the President and the other to the LTTE.

Speaking to the media in Colombo, Peiris was responding to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party statement Friday, which stated, “There are substantive discrepancies between the two documents”. The statement also cited two major discrepancies, first the five introductory paragraphs missing in the President’s copy. Secondly the statement on the ‘specific exceptions’, “except in the areas of ‘police, security, land and revenue” omitted from the same copy.       

“What are the alleged discrepancies? The Government prepared a document for the Norwegian facilitators, which was sent to the President. The facilitator Jon Westborg who was to deliver the proposals to the LTTE needed to be very clear about the Government’s thinking. He was given the authority to make clarifications and amplifications with Government approval, so as to make the document crystal clear to the LTTE”, said Prof. Peiris.

He referred to the introductory paragraphs and statement missing in the copy sent to the President as ‘clarifications and amplifications’ added by Westborg. He said the document prepared by the Government included a ‘qualifying’ statement, viz, “within the parameters agreed upon by the parties”, which refers to the same ‘specific exceptions’ without the Westborg clarification, which set out the restriction more clearly.

“These are not final proposals for implementation, just a foundation for discussion. It is still a developing, evolving document. This is not the final document. The LTTE is still considering the proposals for discussion. There are no significant discrepancies or substantive differences between the two documents”, stressed Peiris.

He further stressed that the Government was concentrating on the resumption of dialogue and that the proposals prepared the foundation for talks to resume. “There are no decisions in the documents, no signatures, just a set of proposals. We are working on enforcing the ceasefire agreement before reaching a final peace”, he said.

According to the Government Spokesman the LTTE had indicated a willingness to return to talks once the proposals are analyzed, which did not constitute an outward rejection.

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Last Updated Date: July 28, 2003  -10.15 GMT.