Tamil parties slam UNP’s backtracking

The Tamil parties in Sri Lanka have slammed the opposition United National Party (UNP) for backtracking on the issue of finding a political solution to the Tamil question.

In an interview UNP’s general secretary Tissa Attanayake said that after the defeat of the LTTE, the people of Sri Lanka should work for the economic development of the Tamil areas and not spend time trying to find a political solution to the ethnic question.

Reacting to this, Suresh Premachandran, an MP from the Tamil National Alliance, said that Attanayake’s remark had showed the UNP in its true colours, which was that it was no different from the other Sinhalese-dominated party, the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Both the UNP and the SLFP believed that the Tamils needed economic development and not  devolution of power to the Tamil-speaking northern and eastern provinces, he said.

Premachandran also said that Attanayake’s remark showed that Sinhalese leaders would talk of devolving power to the Tamils only so long as the latter were waging a powerful armed struggle.

M Chandrakumar, an MP from the pro-government Eelam Peoples Democratic Party, said that after the end of the 30-year-war, the Tamil people were breathing the vigorating air of freedom, and would certainly want all democratic rights, including a political solution to their problem.

Karuna Amman, a former LTTE commander who is now Deputy Minister for Rehabilitation, said that Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, believed in devolving power to the provinces and was working on a homegrown pattern, Indian media reports.