Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party TNA will never accept a “half-baked” political solution offered by the government for the rights of the Tamil people, a top party leader has said after holding talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R Sampanthan while briefing the media on the outcome of the party leaders’ discussion with the President last week said that during the talks, the party requested Mr Rajapaksa to take steps to resolve the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka by giving more powers to the 13th Amendment of the Constitution, the official Daily News reported.
In doing so, the party delegation told the President that they wanted to keep the basics of the 13th Amendment intact and come up with a political solution that would give them more power through a new Constitution and that the TNA was not prepared to accept a lesser solution or a political resolution, parliamentarian Mr Sampanthan said.
“The TNA will never accept a half-baked political solution offered by the government for the rights of the Tamil people,” Mr Sampanthan was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
He further said that the waiting time of the Tamil leaders and the people of this country was sufficient for the rights of the Tamil people and for the protection of their heritage, adding that it was very important that the government and the President act honestly at this time, it said.
He said that the TNA had discussed the matter with the President this time with the intention of finding a lasting solution to the problem, adding that the TNA was ready to hold further rounds of talks, if necessary.
He underlined the TNA had been caught up in the promises of politics of every government that had come to power so far and his party was not prepared to accept such political traps any longer and would not accept a fragmented or half-baked political solution.
On Friday, President Rajapaksa had sought cooperation from the minority Tamil community leaders to “rebuild the country” in his first interaction with them since assuming office over two years ago.
During more than two-hour-long talks, the President had pointed out that attention was paid to further steps to be taken with regard to those who are held in long-term detention, the release of lands that have been previously used for cultivation, investigation of missing persons, discussion of amendments to the new Constitution after translating into Tamil and Sinhala, and the establishment of a North-East Development Fund.
The TNA wants full devolution under the 13th Amendment as the central governments have over the years shown reluctance to meet the demand for police and land powers to the provinces.
The 13th Amendment provides for devolution of power to the Tamil community. India has been pressing Sri Lanka to implement the 13th Amendment which was brought in after the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement of 1987.
The Sinhala majority hardliners of the ruling Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) have been advocating a total abolition of the island’s provincial council system established in 1987.
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who visited Sri Lanka to hold bilateral talks with its top leadership and attend the seven-nation BIMSTEC summit, on Monday met the TNA delegation led by Mr Sampanthan and Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leaders and conveyed that India was consistently supportive of the realisation of their aspirations for equality, justice, peace and dignity within the framework of a united Sri Lanka.
The TNA delegation conveyed that the issues of release of political prisoners, land utilisation, missing persons, 13th Amendment implementation and diaspora investment were discussed in the meeting with the Lankan president.
The government’s engagement with the TNA also came up during Mr Jaishankar’s call to President Rajapaksa on Monday. The minister also received a more detailed understanding of this subject from his Lankan counterpart, Prof. G L Peiris.
