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‘Lankan forces making rapid progress’
By Express News Service
19 Sep 2008
01:38:00 AM IST
CHENNAI: The Sri Lankan forces are making rapid advances in the northern province, Sri Lankan Minister for Science and Technology Prof Tissa Vitharana said here on Thursday. “The eastern province has returned to the democratic process,” he claimed during a discussion on ‘Peace process in Sri Lanka’, organised by the Centre for Security Analysis here. Vitharana, who is the convenor of the All-Party Representatives Committee, said, “It (eastern province) did not get much attention. The local provincial elections were held in a democratic manner. A former LTTE man (C Pillaiyan) is the chief minister of the province. Tamils and Muslims are living there in harmony,” he said. He said his party Lanka Sama Samaja Party believes that the whole issue is political and should be solved politically. “After the initial objections and doubts about the APRC, its proposals are slowly being accepted.With its set of proposals, it is trying to win over the minority, at the same time with consensus of the majority,” he said. He said the APRC document, which will be finalised soon, proposes devolution of powers from the state to the council and to the village level. “There were 10 blasts in the recent months and not even a single Tamil was attacked unlike the rampage in 1983 Black July," he said while answering questions raised by the press. He said Lanka was conscious of the Indian support for solving the ethnic issue and added the “Indian government has been briefed about the developments.” Meanwhile, in Ramanathapuram five refugees among a batch of 26 Sri Lankan refugees who landed at Arichalmunai, near Dhanuskodi, in Ramanathapuram on Thursday escaped.
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