COLOMBO, June 2: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Friday appointed a parliamentary committee to draft a new constitution in a bid to resolve the ethnic question.

The move came in the wake of escalating violence in the north and east.

Two anti-LTTE Tamil political activists were shot dead on Thursday, and 10 army soldiers have been killed since last Saturday.

The Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP, which backed Mr Rajapakse in the presidential election last November, had warned the president of withdrawing support if he embarked on a constitutional change.

President Rajapakse also nominated the head of the Government Peace Secretariat, Dr Palitha Kohona, to lead a five-member government delegation to two-day talks with the LTTE on truce monitoring scheduled for June 8 and 9 in Oslo, Norway.