Call to cancel referendum

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, AUG. 8. Sri Lanka's Opposition parties today said they wanted the August 21 referendum cancelled, not just postponed. The President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, appeared to have bowed to mounting opposition on Tuesday when she announced the postponement of the referendum to October 18. But the United National Party (UNP) described the rescheduling only as a ``temporary victory'' and said its priority now was to defeat the Government at the no- confidence vote in Parliament, while the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said they would agitate for the cancellation of the referendum.

``The postponement shows that Chandrika may still attempt to replace this Constitution with one that will enable her to come back after her two terms as President are over,'' the UNP spokesman, Mr. Karunasena Kodittuwakku, said. In a statement late on Tuesday, Ms. Kumaratunga said she would not hesitate to hold the referendum on the re-scheduled date if all political parties failed to reach a consensus on Constitutional reforms by then.

The UNP spokesman said the party would continue with its agitation for the reconvening of Parliament where a no- confidence motion against the minority People's Alliance Government was pending. Parliament was prorogued on July 10 by Ms. Kumaratunga in an apparent bid to sidestep the no-confidence motion, but must meet again on September 7, when the maximum permissible period of two months for the prorogation ends.

The Opposition parties want Ms. Kumaratunga to reconvene the House earlier than that.

``The Government must now face up to the no-confidence motion, or if it feels that it cannot do that, the President must ask the Government to resign, and invite Mr. Wickremesinghe to form an alternative Government,'' Mr. Kodittuwakku said. The UNP too falls far short of a simple majority in Parliament, but the spokesman said the party was confident that other Opposition parties would come together with it in a ``government of national reconciliation''.

``The duration of such a government would depend upon the participating parties, but the minimum common agenda would be to set up democratic institutions for good governance,'' Mr. Kodittuwakku said. He said the UNP had not closed its mind to the formation of a national government along with the PA, but said such a government should be headed by the party that commanded a majority in the House. The JVP also said that postponement was not sufficient. At a press conference today, the party spokesman, Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, said in the event of cancellation of the referendum, the JVP would offer support to the Government for a maximum period of one year, during which it would have to carry out reforms in governance.

Significantly, Mr. Weerawansa said that the JVP's other condition was that during this period, the Government should not pursue peace talks with the LTTE.

``There has to be a full stop or comma to the Norwegian facilitation for peace talks,'' Mr. Weerawansa said.

A statement from the UNP office, bearing the names of all parties in Opposition, but no signatures, and representing a total of 115 members of Parliament said, ``a majority of the people demand the cancellation of the referendum and the immediate reconvening of Parliament to enable implementation of the democratic process''.

However, in an indication of how diverse opinions are within the combined Opposition, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), in a meeting with Ms. Kumaratunga today, urged her to pursue the process for peace talks with the LTTE through Norway, and told her that a new Constitution should be framed only after negotiations with the Tigers.

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