Boycott threat to C.P.A.

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33628, 2 September 1974, Page 13

Boycott threat to C.P.A.

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) COLOMBO, September 1.

The largest Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference to be held so far will open in Colombo today, clouded by a boycott threat from the Sri Lankan Opposition group in protest against the Government’s “persistence in curbing fundamental rights of freedom of speech and publication.”

Sri Lanka, which is in the throes of an economic crisis, and has had to borrow from the International Monetary Fund, is spending two million rupees (about $192,000) on the conference, but has had a £lO,OOO ($16,000) grant from the C.P.A. headquarters in London.

President Gopallawa of Sri Lanka will open the twoweek talks, which will be attended by nearly 250 legislators from 30 countries.

Among the subjects to be discussed at this, the twentieth such conference since 1948 and the first in Asia since 1958, will be the Indian Ocean “peace zone” proposal, the law of the sea, and one and multi-party systems of government. Countries such as Zambia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Malawi, and Uganda, which are said to favour the oneparty system, are expected to face strong opposition from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.