04 January 2004	Sunday	11 Ziqa'ad 1424

COLOMBO, Jan 3: The leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Mr Rauff Hakeem, in an interview with Dawn on Saturday, condemned the statement made by LTTE leader S.P. Thamilselvan that the proposed LTTE-SLMC memorandum of understanding had been cancelled. "The LTTE is tactical in everything, and we condemn the statement," he said.

Mr Hakeem, however, pointed out that his party had finalized a set of proposals on the ethnic question that would include clauses for "living in harmony with the Tamils", but added they wanted to hold intense discussions with other major stakeholders before coming to a conclusion.

The proposals will be handed over to the government before the provincial council elections, scheduled to be held shortly.

He said in the event of drawing up of an interim constitution paper, certain matters pertaining to the declaration at the November peace talks in Oslo will be included in the proposal.

He called upon the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE not to ignore the Muslim community's aspirations.

Mr Hakeem warned that if either party chose to ignore Muslims, certain forces might resort to other means. He did not elaborate.

US ACCUSED OF INTERFERENCE: The Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) on Friday accused the US of interfering in the internal matters of Sri Lanka. The party specifically named Mr Armitage, the US Assistant Secretary of State, in this respect.

The JVP took exception to Mr Armitage's recent comment that "the current political impasse in Sri Lanka cannot be allowed to continue", adding that the tone was threatening.

The JVP said Washington was working on a plan to divide Sri Lanka as part of its efforts to destabilize India.