Wickremesinghe talks to IIM students on Lanka peace process

Indore, Dec 1 (UNI) Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who heads the opposition United National Party (UNP), today concurred with Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim's statement that there are in reality three tracks to the island nation's peace process.

''Mr Solheim, who is responsible for the process' facilitation, summed up the position when he stated 'it was agreed between the two sides that there are really three tracks... which have to be discussed at the same time,'' he said at the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, while speaking on 'Peace -- Putting the Pieces Together'.

Copies of the speech were made available to the press.

Number one, is the humanitarian suffering of the people, including long-term economic development. Second, is the need for a sustained ceasefire. ''You cannot simply sit and talk for long in an atmosphere of constant violence,'' Mr Solheim had said.

And the third is the political track, how to find a settlement to the Tamil ethnic problem... the need of the hour is for the two sides to agree to a ceasefire that can be the platform for moving forward on all these tracks.

''The political track will be more easy, hopefully, with this present agreement betwen the two main parties, the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the UNP. And they come together within the framework of this committee that the president has established,'' Mr Solheim had said.

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