Interviewed by Tamilnet
Published on 04 April, 2003
It is meaningless to ask the people for an opinion at this stage when sufficient progress has not been made on core political issues.
A referendum is impractical in the Tamil areas. A million Tamils are refugees abroad and another million are internally displaced and efforts to resettle the IDPS are proceeding very slowly.
We are surprised at the government’s announcement of these proposals without discussing the matter with us.
We have been repeatedly assured by the government, even at the last round [in Hakone, Japan] that it has the overwhelming support of the Sinhala people for the peace process. In the light of these assurances, we feel a referendum is illogical and unnecessary.