Crucial APRC meeting today

Manjula Fernando

COLOMBO: The All Party Representative Committee (APRC) will hold a crucial meeting today to iron out the individual differences on the new draft Constitutional framework.

It would probably be the penultimate meeting of the 13-party body which had so far met 50 times in a bid to evolve a political solution to the ethnic conflict. "They will meet one more time before the final document is sealed," authoritative sources said.

The concerns of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), which had been critical of the APRC process, will be included in the final document as a separate annexure. The party's APRC representative Udaya Gammanpila was absent in six consecutive meetings before the last.

APRC Chairman Prof. Tissa Vitharana has informed the JHU member that if they take up their concerns at this stage it would cause an unnecessary delay.

The UNP and the JVP have also distanced themselves from the APRC process despite pleas by the local and international community to take part in the APRC and help expedite a political solution.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Prof. Vitharana is being viewed by the international community as a very liberal and moderate politician who will have the best inclusion in terms of comprehensive proposals.

He was hopeful that the LTTE would respond positively to this democratic process.