NPP agrees with Tamil parties on several proposals

The National People’s Power (NPP) said today it agreed with some of the 13 proposals submitted by Tamil political parties to be given to candidates contesting the forthcoming presidential election. Some of them included abolishing of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and release of lands occupied by the army.

JVP Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath told a news conference that the NPP was against the proposal to merge the Northern and Eastern provinces and claimed it was a move by the separatists to demand a divided administration.

“Ambition of the separatists has been to get the North and the East merged in order to show the international community that a majority in those areas are Tamils, hence they could demand a separate administration. Such a proposal has been submitted by Tamil political parties in every election. We are against this move,” he said, adding that they would not agree to any proposal that opted for the division of the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims.

“However, the NPP is not against the proposal to release lands occupied by the army and the abolition of PTA. We have been advocating the release of lands occupied by the army from the beginning. As a policy, we are not against the proposal to resolve the unemployment issue of the youth. Our stance is to abolish PTA and avoid replacing it with the Counter-Terrorism Act,” he said. (Ajith Siriwardana)