Lanka President Chandrika slams Ranil over "war-mongering"

Colombo, Feb. 27: Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s party on Friday accused Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of trying to create a "war psychosis" and vowed she will reopen peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels.

Kumaratunga’s newly formed United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) said they were also committed to a negotiated settlement with Tamil Tiger rebels and pledged that they will not revert to war.

"The choice is not the simplistic one, as the prime minister would like us to believe, of peace with him or else war," Kumaratunga’s international affairs advisor Lakshman Kadirgamar told reporters here.

"Is he really saying vote for me or there will be war? Is this not a threat to the people? Is this not gross war mongering to whip up a fear psychosis in order to frighten the people?" Kadirgamar played down fears of the country reverting to the decades-old guerrilla war and also climbed down from their hard-line opposition to peace broker Norway.

He said there would be no "drastic changes" to the role of Norway, which had been playing the role of a "facilitator" in bringing warring parties here to the table.

When Kumaratunga’s People's Alliance joined the Marxist JVP, or People’s Liberation Front, to form the new UPFA in January, they called for a "thorough review" of Norway’s peace brokering role.

Kumaratunga had also described the Oslo-brokered truce as "invalid," but pledged to uphold it. (PTI)