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Elections on schedule: Kumaratunga

President Chandrika Kumaratunga has said general elections to parliament will be held as scheduled, in October. The term of parliament expires this August.

She expressed hope of overcoming all obstacles, constitutionally and democratically, before the general election, in Sandeshiya, a Sinhala programme. She also indicated early lifting of censorship as she thought it was not possible to hold democratic elections in the midst of censorship.

Meanwhile, media reports quoting government sources said a new draft constitution will be presented to parliament in mid-July for discussion. Talks between the ruling Peoples' Alliance and the opposition United National Party on constitutional reforms, which started in March this year, were to conclude on May 29, but were extended till June 15. Several rounds of discussion have been held during the past few months. The president had also held discussions with Tamil political parties.

Official sources said that immediately after the talks with the UNP, the government hoped to start talks with all Tamil political parties to discuss reforms and the consensus reached between the PA and UNP.

A crucial round of talks between the PA and UNP on constitutional reforms was scheduled for Monday. Both parties were to discuss important aspects pertaining to devolution of powers and the nature of the Sri Lankan State during the talks, which were to be chaired by the president, the sources said. PA and UNP will hold discussions on June 9, 12 and 13.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan military spokesman Palitha Fernando said that over 1000 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadres have been killed and twice that number wounded in the recent battle in Jaffna, where the terrorists are experiencing an acute shortage of manpower. LTTE transmissions revealed the names of 650 terrorists killed in various confrontations with Lankan security forces in the recent past.

In addition, forces killed 150 Tigers at Sarasalai on May 22, when they made an attempt to assault army defences, Fernando said. He said the security forces recovered 68 bodies of terrorists killed in Sarasalai and handed them over to the LTTE through the International Red Cross Committee.

He said that the morale of the security forces was high after they were provided with modern weaponry systems. While defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatee said last week that an additional 4000 soldiers were being sent to resist rebel attempts to recapture Jaffna peninsula, reports indicate that the war theatre had shifted eastwards from Jaffna town and was now concentrated near the town of Chavakacheri.

Officials said families who left Jaffna in the wake of intense shelling, were trickling back as the level of fighting dropped considerably during the past few days. The government admitted last week that more than 8500 people had left Jaffna town.

UNI

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