Colombo, Sept 07: Sri Lanka's Marxists said today they failed to form a common front with the main opposition due to disagreements over the deadlocked peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels. The Marxist JVP, or People's Liberation Front, had been talking for months with President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in hopes of toppling Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who revived the peace bid after his 2001 election.
But JVP general secretary Tilwin Silva said the two parties disagreed over the role of Norway, which is mediating to end the Tamil separatist conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972. "We firmly believe that Norway must be removed from its current role in the peace process," Silva said.
He said the Marxist Party also opposed any power-sharing with the Tigers. Kumaratunga, who is President until 2005 even though her party is in opposition in Parliament, has repeatedly accused the government of offering too many concessions to the rebels. But it was she who initially invited Norway to broker peace.
Wickremesinghe has a slender two-seat majority in the 225-member Parliament, although the JVP and the President's party would still need allies to topple the government. Bureau Report