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The Democratic Left Front has welcomed the announcement by the Government and the LTTE agreeing to a Federal solution to the North-East problem while expressing its unreserved support to the right of the Tamil people for self-governance in a united Sri Lanka.

A media release issued by DLF National Organiser Vasudeva Nanayakkara states:

The third round of talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE ended with the announcement that the parties have agreed to a federal form of solution to the problem in the North East of Sri Lanka.

The Government spokesman Prof. G. L. Peiris has claimed this to be a major achievement as in his view the LTTE has given up the demand for Eelam and agreed to settle instead for a federal form of Government within a united Sri Lanka.

The Democratic Left Front welcomes this development and supports unreservedly the right of the Tamil-speaking of the North East of Sri Lanka to govern themselves and manage their affairs according to their wishes in a united Sri Lanka.

We call upon all the people in our country more particularly the Sinhala-speaking people to accept this solution to the ethnic problem. We also call upon all our people to reject the tribal calls of extreme communalists who assert that a federal form of government is a precursor to the formation of a separate state of Eelam.

We may remind them that it was these same communalists who claimed that granting the status of a state language to the Tamil language would herald the end of the Sinhala language and race. It is several years now since the Tamil language was elevated to the status of a state language and their predictions have been proved hopelessly wrong. They will not be proved correct this time either.

We call upon the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to ignore the opposition of the communalists and warmongers and work towards a constitutional framework for our country that would take into account the aspirations of the majority of our people. This could be done by working patiently and conducting a thorough-going discussion with the participation of our people in the making of such a constitution for our country.

It is only such a constitution that would suit our people and not one that suits the LTTE, the UNF, the PA or any other party or parties only.

The new atmosphere of peace, also gives the democratic and progressive forces a fresh opening to raise the socio-economic issues with a new political and economic perspective that is opposed to the open economy which had heaped burdens on the masses over the last 25 years.

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