{"id":71506,"date":"2013-01-30T00:03:01","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T00:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=71506"},"modified":"2013-02-03T15:13:14","modified_gmt":"2013-02-03T15:13:14","slug":"wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/","title":{"rendered":"WikiLeaks: Prime Minister Mahinda Described President Chandrika As &#8220;Very Confident&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\">Colombo Telegraph<\/a><\/span> &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;In a September 15 meeting with the Ambassador, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse described President Chandrika Kumaratunga as &#8220;very confident&#8221; that she can soon restart talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He offered several reasons for this assessment.&#8221; the US\u00a0Embassy Colombo informed Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_61344\">\n<div id=\"attachment_71509\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/chandrika-and-mahinda\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-71509\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-71509\" class=\"size-full wp-image-71509\" title=\"Chandrika and Mahinda\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Chandrika-and-Mahinda.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-71509\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mahinda and Chandrika<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A Leaked \u2018Confidential\u2019 US diplomatic cable, dated September 15, 2004, updated the Secretary of State regarding and a \u00a0meeting Ambassador\u00a0\u00a0Jeffrey J. Lunstead\u00a0had with the President\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Mahinda+Rajapaksa&amp;x=6&amp;y=4\">Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/category\/wikileaks\/\">WikiLeaks<\/a><\/span>\u00a0database. The cable is signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Jeffrey+J.+Lunstead&amp;x=10&amp;y=5\">Jeffrey J. Lunstead<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The ambassador wrote ; &#8221;\u00a0The LTTE seems to have stopped raising the March defection of Karuna, its Eastern military commander, as a purported obstacle to resumed negotiations, Rajapakse said. In addition, the GSL has formulated a proposal for a multipartisan Advisory Council on the peace process (Ref A). Finally, even the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), the left-wing nationalist coalition partner that has been most vocal in criticizing the LTTE&#8217;s proposal for an interim admiinistration, has now said it is ready to discuss it, he noted. The PM thinks the JVP&#8217;s apparent turnaround is the result of a pragmatic political calculus, rather than a fundamental change of heart. It is too early for the JVP to break ranks with the government, Rajapakse said; the party will remain a coalition partner at least until local council elections in April 2006, he predicted. Moreover, the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA), with its 22 seats in Parliament, has pledged to support the government if talks resume, he added.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For now, the President has shelved her proposal for a constituent assembly to abolish the executive presidency, Rajapakse indicated. Instead, the government is formulating a comprehensive package of proposed constitutional changes&#8211;including an interim arrangement for the north and east&#8211;instead of &#8220;doing it piece by piece,&#8221; the PM said. If talks resume, the government and LTTE could reach a negotiated settlement within one year, he predicted confidently.&#8221;\u00a0Lunstead\u00a0further wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Read the\u00a0relevant\u00a0part of the cable below;<\/p>\n<pre>C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 001526 \r\n\r\nSIPDIS \r\n\r\nSTATE FOR SA\/INS \r\n\r\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 09\/13\/2014\r\nTAGS: PGOV PTER PREL CE LTTE\r\nSUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES PEACE PROCESS\r\nWITH PRIME MINISTER, PEACE SECRETARIAT \r\n\r\nREF: A. COLOMBO 1521\r\n     \u00b6B. COLOMBO 1510\r\n     \u00b6C. COLOMBO 1362 \r\n\r\nClassified By: AMB. JEFFREY J. LUNSTEAD.  REASON:  1.4 (B,D).<\/pre>\n<pre>-------------------\r\nPM POSITIVE;\r\nJVP CAN'T JUMP YET\r\n------------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b62.  (C)  In a September 15 meeting with the Ambassador, Prime\r\nMinister Mahinda Rajapakse described President Chandrika\r\nKumaratunga as \"very confident\" that she can soon restart\r\ntalks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  He\r\noffered several reasons for this assessment.  The LTTE seems\r\nto have stopped raising the March defection of Karuna, its\r\nEastern military commander, as a purported obstacle to\r\nresumed negotiations, Rajapakse said.  In addition, the GSL\r\nhas formulated a proposal for a multipartisan Advisory\r\nCouncil on the peace process (Ref A).  Finally, even the\r\nJanatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), the left-wing nationalist\r\ncoalition partner that has been most vocal in criticizing the\r\nLTTE's proposal for an interim admiinistration, has now said\r\nit is ready to discuss it, he noted.  The PM thinks the JVP's\r\napparent turnaround is the result of a pragmatic political\r\ncalculus, rather than a fundamental change of heart.  It is\r\ntoo early for the JVP to break ranks with the government,\r\nRajapakse said; the party will remain a coalition partner at\r\nleast until local council elections in April 2006, he\r\npredicted.  Moreover, the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance\r\n(TNA), with its 22 seats in Parliament, has pledged to\r\nsupport the government if talks resume, he added. \r\n\r\n\u00b63.  (C)  For now, the President has shelved her proposal for\r\na constituent assembly to abolish the executive presidency,\r\nRajapakse indicated.  Instead, the government is formulating\r\na comprehensive package of proposed constitutional\r\nchanges--including an interim arrangement for the north and\r\neast--instead of \"doing it piece by piece,\" the PM said.  If\r\ntalks resume, the government and LTTE could reach a\r\nnegotiated settlement within one year, he predicted\r\nconfidently.<\/pre>\n<pre>LUNSTEAD<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":71509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,2375,27],"tags":[5989,6915,6916,6565,6914],"class_list":["post-71506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-stories","category-wikileaks","tag-jvp-in-wikileaks","tag-ltte-in-wikileaks","tag-mahinda-rajapaksa-on-chandrika-kumaratunaga-in-wikileaks","tag-mahinda-rajapakse-and-jvp-in-wikileaks","tag-wikileaks-peace-talk-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>WikiLeaks: Prime Minister Mahinda Described President Chandrika As &quot;Very Confident&quot; - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WikiLeaks: Prime Minister Mahinda Described President Chandrika As &quot;Very Confident&quot; - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-30T00:03:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-02-03T15:13:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Chandrika-and-Mahinda.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/\",\"name\":\"WikiLeaks: Prime Minister Mahinda Described President Chandrika As \\\"Very Confident\\\" - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Chandrika-and-Mahinda.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-30T00:03:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-03T15:13:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Chandrika-and-Mahinda.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Chandrika-and-Mahinda.jpg\",\"width\":\"300\",\"height\":\"240\",\"caption\":\"Mahinda and Chandrika\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"WikiLeaks: Prime Minister Mahinda Described President Chandrika As &#8220;Very Confident&#8221;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"WikiLeaks: Prime Minister Mahinda Described President Chandrika As \"Very Confident\" - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"WikiLeaks: Prime Minister Mahinda Described President Chandrika As \"Very Confident\" - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2013-01-30T00:03:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-02-03T15:13:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":240,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Chandrika-and-Mahinda.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/","name":"WikiLeaks: Prime Minister Mahinda Described President Chandrika As \"Very Confident\" - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Chandrika-and-Mahinda.jpg","datePublished":"2013-01-30T00:03:01+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-03T15:13:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Chandrika-and-Mahinda.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Chandrika-and-Mahinda.jpg","width":"300","height":"240","caption":"Mahinda and Chandrika"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-prime-minister-mahinda-described-president-chandrika-as-very-confident\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"WikiLeaks: Prime Minister Mahinda Described President Chandrika As &#8220;Very Confident&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Chandrika-and-Mahinda.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71506"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72242,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71506\/revisions\/72242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}