Sri Lanka’s newly reinstated prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe pledged that his party will “have discussions” to bring about a political solution to the island’s ethnic conflict within a unitary state, in a statement released on Sunday.
“We have created an environment in which different ethnic groups can live together in harmony and co-existence,” Wickremesinghe claimed in the statement.
“We will have discussions with the Tamil National Alliance and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna to bring about a political solution in which all citizens can live in harmony in a unitary state,” the statement continued.
Wickremesinghe went on to make a veiled rebuke of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, stating that, “I didn’t take any steps to enter into any agreement with the LTTE in order to win the Presidential Election”.
“In the past I dedicated the victory in the Presidential Election for the sake of my motherland,” he added. “I haven’t yet changed that stand.”
“Our effort is to create a strong democratic environment that any external force cannot suppress,” the statement concluded.
