Talks on with Tamil parties: Ranil

The Sri Lankan government has begun “informal discussions” with the Tamil National Alliance and other parties on a political solution to the ethnic conflict, according to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Though the government’s “political goals” included “a new Constitution, consolidation of human rights and the strengthening of democratic institutions”, the “most important” among them was to find “a political settlement to the outstanding issues relating to national unity, ethnicity and religion”, Wickremesinghe said.

“The language and ethnicity issues, which dominated the country over five decades, and religious discord that were stirred up during the last decade, must be resolved if a strong Sri Lankan identity – based on equality – is to be established,” he said. (The Hindu)