Sri Lanka’s Tamil parties meet again

Sri Lanka’s Tamil political parties met for the second time on Friday. The meeting was due to Minister Douglas Devananda’s attempt to get all Tamil parties together so as to find way to solve problems faced by the Tamil community in Sri Lanka.

The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) under V. Anandasangaree, Eelam People’s Revolutionary Left Front (EPRLF - Varatharajah Group), Douglas Devananda’s Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), PLOTE, TELO – Sri Sabaratnam Faction, Mano Ganeshan’s Democratic People’s Front (DPF), EROS, Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulihal (TMVP) were the parties that were represented at the meeting.

Though each party had its own ideologies or aspirations, this union of Tamil parties was for the sole purpose of dealing with the problems faced by the community and will not be an alliance or party, pointed out Minister Douglas Devananda.

He also said that further attempts will be made to get other Tamil parties which had up to now not agreed to join the union.

While parties could proceed with whatever identities or differences they had now, in dealing with problems that affected the Tamil community, these parties should shed those differences and unite to represent the community, said former North-Eastern Chief Minister Varatharajah Perumal.

A committee was appointed to discuss the next step to be taken by this group of Tamil political parties in Sri Lanka.