Sri Lankan Opposition Legislators Pledge to Safeguard Sovereignty

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Sri Lankan Opposition Legislators Pledge to Safeguard Sovereignty

Opposition party legislators representing the majority Sinhala community in Sri Lanka on Tuesday pledged to safeguard the country's sovereignty.

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Opposition party legislators representing the majority Sinhala community in Sri Lanka on Tuesday pledged to safeguard the country's sovereignty.

The legislators alleged that the national unitary character is being threatened.

The legislators, mainly from the main opposition People's Alliance of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and banded together under the title the "Alliance of Sinhalese Parliamentarians" were led by former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.

They assembled at the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, an ancient site of Buddhist religious worship, some 200 kilometers northeast of the capital Colombo, to make a solemn pledge to safeguard the unitary state of Sri Lanka.

The opposition parties are critical of an indefinite ceasefire agreement signed between the government of the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in February.

They charge that the agreement conceded too much to LTTE rebels and warn the government that the rebels are using the truce to re- group and re-arm.

"Today marks a historical day as for the first time since independence, a group of MPs (legislators) have pledged to safeguard the nation," a leading Buddhist Monk, Ven Elle Gunawansa told the legislators during the pledge making ceremony.

Opposition from extremist forces has made successive previous governments to abandon plans to meet the Tamil minority demands for self rule through negotiations.

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