CEPA gives too much to india : weerawansa

The National Freedom Front (NFF) charged yesterday the government was preparing to sign the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India paving the way for the South Asian giant to take over our goods and the services sector. NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa told a news conference the government hoped to get Cabinet approval for this purpose tomorrow and sign the CEPA with India at the upcoming SAARC summit.

Mr. Weerawansa said this would without doubt pave the way for India to dominate Sri Lanka’s goods and services sector and enable Indian professionals like doctors and others to work in Sri Lanka without any restriction. “This will result in an employment crisis here as Sri Lankans will lose job opportunities,” he warned and added that multi nationals operating in Sri Lanka might shift their business ventures to India if this agreement was signed.

The NFF leader criticized the government and said it had no mandate to sign such an agreement without informing parliament and the public of all the details and the government should have canvassed the views of the business community and other stake holders before signing it.

“The Indian government is currently supporting Sri Lanka in its fight against terrorism but if it forces Sri Lanka to sign this agreement it will dilute support for eliminating the LTTE,” Mr. Weerawansa said.

The NFF urged the Speaker to call for a party leaders meeting immediately to discuss this important issue and for a debate in Parliament. The party also called on the business community and other nationalist organizations to pressure the government to avoid signing such an agreement without informing the public.

Mr. Weerawansa said the NFF was prepared to propose amendments to the CEPA if the government decided to discuss the agreement and would be forced to take drastic action if the government went ahead and signed the CEPA.