By Yohan Perera

Government today said the opposition political parties should state their official stand on the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) in Parliament so that a final decision on it could be made.

Leader of the House Minister Nimal Siripala told Daily Mirror that one cannot go by what the media reported on the statements expressed by the opposition parties with regard to the proposed select committee.

“No political party had officially informed the government that they are opposing the select committee yet and we cannot go by what the media had reported,” Mr. De Silva said implying that the government will not make any decision regarding the select committee on the statements made by the parties to the media regarding the issue.

Media reported on Sunday said the government is expected to place before parliament its resolution to set up the PSC to find a political solution to the national question on Tuesday

According to reports the PSC that will have a quasi judicial power will comprise 31 members from the government and 12 from the opposition.

Meanwhile the main opposition UNP said it will officially state its stand on the select committee once it is set up. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said the party will decide only after the committee is set up so that room for the government to manipulate the truth will be remote. “Government is known for doing things and denying them later, and the situation would be the same with regard to the PSC as well and therefore we will announce our stand later,” he added.

However he said the PSC is a waste of time as it would a useless exercise given the government’s approach towards the solving of the national issue in the past. He recalled that the APRC proposals for a political solution had been swept under the carpet and pointed out that PSC would also suffer the same fate.

JVP too had decided to boycott the select committee while the TNA is also likely to do the same. TNA Spokesmen Suresh Premachandran said there is no point in participating in the PSC. However he said the party had not made the final decision yet. (Daily Mirror online)