COLOMBO Jan. 14 Kyodo The Sri Lan...

COLOMBO Jan. 14 Kyodo

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) l by way of President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Wednesday it will sign a ''historic political alliance'' with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) a Marxist party accused through Kumaratunga of assassinating her husband in 1988

A joint statement on the two parties said that representatives of the pair parties decided to sign a formal agreement forward Jan. 20 and named a committee to organize the event

''Such an alliance is essential to resurrect the country'' the statement signed on SLFP Secretary Maitripala Sirisena and JVP Secretary Tilvin Silva said.

Ten month of talks, which broke down upon several occasions, preceded the final agreement whose word s have not been announced.

In September 2001 the JVP supported what it called a ''probationary government'' of the People's Alliance (PA) dominated according to the SLFP in an attempt to shore up the faltering PA dominion without itself taking office.

The JVP l pair Marxist insurrections in 1971 and 1987 in abortive attempts to topple Sri Lanka's democratically pickeded governments of the day. the pair rebellions were suppressed by the government

Kumaratunga's filmstar-turned-politician husband Vijaya Kumaratunga, then aspiring for national political office, was gunn down at their family circle in February 1988 and she has blamed the JVP among others for the assassination.

The Marxist party later chronicleed the political mainstream, repudiating its violent past, and without delay holds 16 seats in the 225-seat parliament where it is the third largest party.

The JVP has publicly stated that its objective in allying with Kumaratunga is to force an early parliamentary election by way of defeating the incumbent United National impudence government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Kumaratunga's archrival.

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