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First President-TNA meeting postponed

15 Jun 2021

  • Constitutional reforms were on the agenda

By Dinitha Rathnayake   A meeting between Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader and parliamentarian R. Sampanthan and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, which was scheduled to be held today (16) at the Presidential Secretariat, was cancelled last evening (15), according to the TNA. The TNA announced the postponement made by the Presidential Secretariat on its Facebook page. “The Presidential Secretariat informed us a little while ago that tomorrow’s (today’s) meeting has been postponed and that a new date and time will be notified soon.” The meeting was to primarily discuss ongoing constitutional reforms but had attracted much attention due to the divergent political views of the Government and the TNA. According to sources, the meeting was to be held at 4 p.m. and the main point that was to be considered at the meeting were constitutional reforms. A statement issued by TNA Spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran PC on 14 June said the meeting with the President was to discuss ways of taking forward the process of constitutional reform. This would have been President Rajapaksa’s first meeting with the TNA since he assumed office in November 2019. Sampanthan has, over the last decade, spearheaded the call for a political solution to Sri Lanka’s national ethnic question through a constitutional settlement. The TNA sent its proposals for constitutional reforms to the experts’ committee appointed by the President last December, and thereafter met the committee at their invitation in February this year. The scheduled meeting was scheduled a week after Sri Lanka’s rights record came under sharp focus, with the European Parliament adopting a resolution urging the European Union Commission to withdraw the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) trade concession given to Sri Lanka, citing, among other things, “continuing discrimination against and violence towards religious and ethnic minorities”. It was also about three months after the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution on “promoting reconciliation, accountability, and human rights in Sri Lanka”. Meanwhile, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) Leader and MP Selvam Adaikkalanathan had reportedly claimed that two constituents of the TNA – the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and TELO – were planning to break ranks with the TNA. However, according to TNA sources who spoke to The Morning, the PLOTE and TELO still have taken such a decision. Attempts to contact Adaikkalanathan and TNA MP Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam to clarify the matter were not successful.

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