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Devolution proposals handed to President
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President Mahinda Rajapakse has expressed willingness to devolve power through provisions available in the 13th Amendment
to the constitution without a two third majority in parliament, Chairman of the All Party Conference (APC), Minister Tissa
Vitharana says.
Minister Vitharana said the proposed proposals based on devolution of power drafted by the APC was handed over to the president on Wednesday. The president addressing the representatives of the APC said that steps will be taken to implement the proposals as soon as possible. Eradicating terrorism "The government is opposed to terrorism so does the international community. Every effort will be done to erradicate terrorism from the country", the president told them. President while thanking all political parties which participated in the all party consultations in the past and later kept away from the talks said that all of them have a duty before the country and the people to successfully implement the proposals. He said that if there were shortcomings in the proposals they could be further discussed. The president appealed to them to forget political differences and take part in the future talks. "Do not try to take political advantages out of this situation when the country needs a political solution to the burning problems of the people", the president said. The President told the APC representatives that at the same time all possible political measures will be taken to resolve problems faced by the people in the north and east. The proposals The proposals have to be passed by a two third majority in parliament in order to amend the constitution. The President, however, has said that he is prepared to make the devolution of power throughout the country especially the
north and east even without a two third majority in parliament. After strenuous talks over a period of fifteen months, ninety five per cent of participants have agreed to the proposals, Minister Vitharana said. "The president has accepted that the 13th amendment should be implemented and in the discussions we had, president queried as to why it was not fully implemented", Minister Vitharana said. UNP agreeing He said United National Party has said that it was ready to participate in devolution talks if disputes within the government were resolved. Except Sri Lanka Muslim Congress no other opposition party has participated in the talks of the all party conference. |
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Lankan workers stranded in Jeddah