Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan expressed confidence in the ability of the Special Presidential Commission headed by Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge to find a suitable solution by the end of this year, to the issues confronting the Tamil people.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan expressed confidence in the ability of the Special Presidential Commission headed by Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge to find a suitable solution by the end of this year, to the issues confronting the Tamil people.
“We have clarified to the former President all matters relating to the problems faced by the people of the North and East and urged that such issues be immediately addressed meaningfully. When Kumaratunge became the President in 1994, she was very keen about settling the grievances of the Tamil people and she also mooted a suitable political solution to those issues. We were however, unable to see anything come out of it” he said.
There are continuing changes in the political sphere ever since the new government came into office after defeating the former government. Even the Sinhala people voted for President Maithripala Sirisena while a majority of the Tamil people also voted for him, he said.
“President Sirisena won the elections. Everyone should benefit from the change that the Presidential election has ushered in.
We believe that President Sirisena will respect the legitimate demands of the Tamil people. We should be clearly focused on winning those demands,” he added.
Had the presidential election failed to bring about that change there would be nothing left of the Tamil identity today, he added.
“The International Community is continuously urging Sri Lanka to find a suitable solution to the political issue,” he said.
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Note by Smart Patriots Sri Lanka:
In 1995, then President Chandrika Kumaratunga proposed a non-unitary, Union of Regions package which was never endorsed by Mr. Sambandan’s TULF, the main Tamil parliamentary party at the time because he thought it didn’t go far enough.
Recently, Chief Minister Wigneswaran of the TNA has said that devolution under the 13th Amendment was inadequate.
India’s Prime Minister Modi on his recent visit to Sri Lanka expressed his view that a political solution should go “beyond” the 13th amendment.
Smart Patriots Sri Lanka 