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OPPOSITION BITTERLY CONDEMNS NORWAY AND ASKS WHAT BETTER COULD BE EXPECTED FROM SALMON EATERS TURNED INTO INTERNATIONAL BUSY BODIES

(from left to right) Prime Minister of Norway Kjell Magne Bondevik, Norwegian peace envoy Eric Solheim and Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen

By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

May 31, 10:30 AM:Dr. Sarath Amunugama , the chief spokesman of the People’s Alliance , Sri Lanka’s main opposition party said his party bitterly condemned the recent statements made by Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik’s remarks made in Tokyo that the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe could carry on with his work without the involvement of President Chandrika Kumaratunga regarding giving consent to the LTTE proposal of establishing an Internal government for the North and East of the country.

Dr. Amunugama also said he also condemned Bondevik’s statement that he advised the Sri Lanka government to be very flexible in the question of establishing an internal government of the LTTE for the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka since he was nobody and had no duty to advise a Sri Lankan government.

Adding to the anger of Sri Lanka’s opposition against Norway, Mangala Samaraweera, a close confidante of the President Chandrika Kumaratunga told reporters in Colombo, " The Norwegian Prime Minister has not shown any sensitivity to the feelings of Sri Lankans. Of course we can’t expect anything better from a nation of salmon eaters who have turned into international busybodies."

Bondevik was visiting Japan to further discuss the Sri Lankan problem with the Japanese government. The Japanese involvement in the Sri Lankan problem also instigated the powerful Jathika Bhikku Peramuna to carry a memorandum of 30,000 Buddhist monks protesting against what they alleged Japanese partiality to the separatists, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Dr. Sarath Amunugama said the opposition approved the UNF stand not to go beyond the limitations of the Sri Lanka Constitution in dealing with the Interim Administration problem.

Further criticizing Norway for the two statements of Bondevik Dr. Sarath Amunugama said the Norwegian Prime Minister should remember that it was President Chandrika Kumaratunga who invited Norway to be the facilitator of the Sri Lanka peace process. He said she was the Commander in Chief of the Sri Lanka armed forces and advising the Sri Lanka government to disregard her and work independently was ludicrous.

He further said every act of the government finally needed her consent and signature and that should be remembered well by the Prime Minister of Norway.

Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Gajendra Kumar Ponnambalam who routinely present pro-LTTE views said the Interim administration was not a new idea and even the late President J. R .Jayewardene accepted the policy.

But Mangala Samaraweera said to tell that J. R. Jayewardene accepted the Interim government for the Northern and Eastern Provinces was a misrepresentation of what he really accepted . He said what J. R. Jayewardene said was that the LTTE could establish an interim government under the Provincial Council system. Under what he accepted he did not reject the presence of other Tamil political parties in the system like the LTTE proposed to do , Samaraweera further pointed out.

Samaraweera further charged that it was customary for the LTTE to take evasive action after getting engaged in a peace process for some time.

(31/05/03 go2lanka.com)