Minister says govt. needs more time to formulate a proposal

General Secretary of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and Education Minister Susil Premjayanth expressed hope that the new government will be able to achieve a long lasting peace.

“The new president should be given time to formulate his approach. As Prabhakaran has allowed some space, we hope that we will be able to reach the presidents goal of achieving peace,” he told Elmo Fernando of BBC Sandeshaya.

All major political parties in the south expressed “optimism” after the Sunday’s annual speech by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Tsunami mechanism

Minister Premjayanth accepted that there have been lapses in providing the tsunami affected people in the north and the east.

The LTTE leader strongly criticised government’s post-tsunami relief programme in his annual speech on Sunday.

	UNP says Wickramasinghe acted 'tactfully' to disarm rebels

He said: “Even the all-powerful President Kumaratunga could not provide a simple humanitarian project for the Tamils against the wishes of the Sinhala racist forces.”

The minister, however, added with the planned new Tsunami authority which includes the whole country, "we can foster goodwill that will improve the situation that will lead to a political settlement."

JVP response

Government’s coalition ally, Peoples Liberation Front (JVP), also positively reacted to the much awaited speech by the LTTE leader.

"If both parties agree to have peace talks without preconditions, the future will be bright quite soon,” JVP MP Vijitha Herath told bbcsinhala.com.

The main opposition, United National Party (UNP), said the party leader Ranil Wickramasinghe worked “tactfully” to disarm the Tamil Tigers.

The LTTE leader has accused the UNP of creating an international safety network against the LTTE. He said: “ Adopting delaying tactics, Ranil’s government was primarily focusing on setting up an international safety net aiming at decommissioning our weapons.”

UNP Deputy General Secretary Tissa Attanayaka said: “The speech disproves the allegations by extremists that the UNP had a secret pact with the LTTE.”