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SL plans to abolish truce with Tigers via referendum
Colombo,
Apr
1:
Perturbed
by
the
current
security
related
developments
in
the
country,
Sri
Lanka's
ruling
coalition
government
is
reportedly
considering
to
hold
a
referendum
aiming
to
'abolish'
democratically
the
five-year
old
Norwegian-brokered
Ceasefire
Agreement
(CFA)
with
Tamil
Tiger
rebels.
The
state-run
Sunday
Observer
newspaper,
quoting
a
high-ranking
official
of
the
Presidential
Secretariat,
reported
today
that
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
is
seriously
considering
holding
a
referendum
to
decide
whether
the
Government
should
continue
to
abide
by
the
controversial
CFA.
The
President
was
interested
in
looking
at
the
proposed
abolition
of
the
CFA
in
a
'democratic
manner',
enabling
the
voters
to
decide
on
the
fate
of
the
CFA,
the
top
official
of
the
Presidential
Secretariat
was
quoted
as
saying.
President
Rajapaksa
is
keen
to
obtain
a
fresh
mandate
from
the
people
on
the
CFA,
and
was
planning
to
hold
the
referendum
'soon',
the
report
said.
If
the
people
oppose
the
CFA
and
vote
in
favour
of
abolishing
it,
then
the
Government
would
go
ahead
to
withdraw
from
it.
But
nothing
would
be
done
against
the
majority
wish,
the
top
official
of
the
Presidential
Secretariat
has
said,
adding
that
the
future
of
the
CFA
should
be
decided
by
the
people
of
this
country.
Under
the
CFA,
either
party
could
withdraw
from
the
fragile
agreement
after
giving
two
weeks
prior
notice
to
the
Norwegian
facilitators.
Key
allies
of
the
coalition
government,
Marxist
Janatha
Vimukthi
Peramuna
(JVP)
and
the
Buddhist
Monk-party
Jathika
Hela
Urumaya
(JHU)
have
already
been
demanding
the
government
to
abrogate
the
truce
pact
with
the
LTTE
charging
that
it
favours
the
rebels
and
allowed
the
rebels
to
strengthen
their
military
mechanism.
These
two
parties
have
also
called
for
the
expulsion
of
Norway
as
facilitators.
Calls
to
abolish
the
agreement,
which
is
now
virtually
confined
to
papers
with
both
the
parties
engaging
in
undeclared
war,
have
increased
after
the
LTTE
carried
out
an
air
strike
on
the
Air
Force
base
Katunayake
killing
three
airmen
and
wounding
16
more
on
Monday.
UNI
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