Sri Lanka's minority government on Friday agreed to an Opposition suggestion for early talks to resolve the country's political crisis within a timeframe and named a ministerial delegation to hold discussions from Saturday and end the parleys by August 28. State-run radio said this afternoon that six senior ministers would begin talks with a four-member United National Party (UNP) team from Saturday on the possibility of forming a government of national reconciliation or a broad agreement for consensual governance.
Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had on Thursday sought commencement of talks from Friday and favoured an agreed time-frame.
Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake had taken the initiative for official talks with the opposition by inviting Wickremesinghe, who consulted the UNP and other parties before laying down a set of parameters within which alone the talks could be held.
The joint opposition, commanding the support of 115 MPs in a 225-member Parliament, has made it clear that the talks should focus on vital imperatives like revival of prorogued Parliament and cancellation of a national referendum fixed from October 18.

The opposition is also pushing for establishment of five independent commissions to deal with elections, judiciary, public services, police and the media. Once these panels are in place, the opposition has also indicated it will press for holding fresh elections to parliament under a caretaker regime. Bureau Report