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Manmohan says India will work with TNA, claims Sumanthiran
Jul 11, 201002:35 PM
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told a delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that India has decided to work with it to find solutions to short and long-term problems faced by Tamils of the island nation.
This was revealed by TNA´s M.A. Sumanthiran, who was a member of the delegation that met the Indian Prime Minister in New Delhi on Thursday. He told Express that Singh asked the TNA to work with other Tamil parties so that a joint Tamil view could be presented to the Lankan government on various issues.
Singh’s request is significant in the light of the fact that only recently, about a dozen Tamil parties and NGOs had met in Colombo to begin working out a common minimum programme on issues facing the Tamils. The TNA had kept out of the venture thinking that these parties were basically out to undermine its position in the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern Provinces, where it had emerged as the single largest party in the last parliamentary elections, with 14 MPs.
Responding to Singh’s plea for unity, TNA leader R. Sampanthan assured his outfit would cooperate with other Tamil parties so long as it did not violate the trust that the people of the north and east had vested in it.
The TNA asked the PM to put pressure on Lanka to find a political solution to the Tamil question within a specific time frame, to see that high security zones were dismantled, and to ensure that the ethno-demographic character of the north and east was not changed through government sponsored colonisation of Sinhalese.
Asked if the delegation gave the Indian PM any details to substantiate the claim that the Sri Lankan government had schemes to change the ethno-demographic character of the north and east, Sumanthiran said the details had already been given to the Indian authorities. The Prime Minister did not directly address this issue, but he assured that India would endeavour to see that the Tamils lived in safety and security and that their political aspirations were met.
Singh requested the TNA to continue to hold talks with the Lankan government in a constructive way.
The delegation wanted the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern Provinces to be reunited as a Tamil homeland, as per the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987. The unification had been annulled by a court order in 2006.
The TNA thanked India for undertaking vital developmental projects in the north, especially the building of 50,000 houses for war-affected Tamil civilians in Wanni.
Asked for an overall impression of the meeting, Sumanthiran said, “We were satisfied.” – (Express News Service)
