Vasu calls for immediate ceasefire, resuming talks

A veteran politician has called for an unconditional ceasefire, end to hostilities and an immediate resumption of peace talks, saying war was no solution to peace.

Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Secretary of the Democratic Left Front and currently opposition leader in the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), says his party abhors the escalation of the war and urged the government and all other concerned parties to initiate unconditional talks with the LTTE, first in the attempt of cessation of hostilities and then to go for lasting peace.

Nanayakkara said that there would not be any conditions to initiate discussion. He said first it should be unconditional to sit and discuss whether ceasefire is possible, where APRC wants to continue for sometime without any results and whether its proceedings bring in worthwhile. results. There should be proposals to be presented to the Tamils, Muslims as well to other communities as a basis of solving the North and East national question. He said that this is a bigger problem than the ceasing of hostilities and is also more complex.

Speaking at the 10th Business for Peace Forum presented by the Business for Peace Initiative of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka in Colombo last week, Nanayakkara speaking on the theme "Maintaining the Balance of Peace Building and Economic Growth; The DLF Standpoint", said that their party is for the devolution of power acceptable for the Tamils, Muslims and other communities in the North and East.

He said all hostilities in the conflict should stop immediately to create a stage to achieve peace and noted that his party shared the view that in spite of the conflict and the on-going war and in spite of the reservations of both sides, all the parties should sit down to discuss as how to stop the on-going conflict.

He said the All Party Conference is a forum to sit down and discuss such issues but noted that there shouldn't be any conditions to initiate discussion.

There should be proposals to be presented to the Tamils, Muslims as well to other communities as a basis of solving the North and East national question, he said adding that this is a bigger problem than the ceasing of hostilities and is also more complex. Comments of his presentation were released this week by the chamber.

Nanayakkara said in formulating the devolution package and the structure of the state there is the question of whether unitary or non-unitary. He said that their position has been that they are looking at how and what powers should be devolved and what powers to be preserved for the centre. He said that they have to work out a realistic basis that could reach Tamils and Muslims in the north and east. There should be expansion of powers that they could reasonably accept. "We should have a formal stage of finding out the outline of the kind of constitutions that is envisaged to get a better understanding as to where they go ultimately and where they find major divisions rather than talking in conceptual terms," he said.

Discussing the presentation at a panel discussion were Micky Wickramasinha, Chairman, Ceylon Biscuits Ltd and Keerthi Gunawardane, Immediate Past President, Sri Lanka Printers Association and Managing Director, Graphics Systems Group of Companies.