By Easwaran Rutnam The rising cost of living is having a negative impact, not just in the South but in the North too. Northern Provincial Council Opposition Leader Sinnathurai Thavarajah told The Sunday Morning, that the people in the North suffered during the war and now they are suffering from the rising cost of living. Thavarajah also noted that the main focus of the Tamils in the North, however, remains the need for a political solution to the ethnic issue. Excerpts of the interview: Q: What impact do you see from the rising cost of living on the people of the North who are recovering from a brutal war? A: The rising cost of living is having a negative impact on the North like it is in other parts of the country. The impact in the North is more on the people in the Vanni district than the people in Jaffna. The people in the Vanni were directly affected by the war and they are facing financial difficulties. I am not saying others are not finding it hard, but these people are the ones worst affected because of the high cost of living. Day by day the prices are going up. Petrol prices are going up and so is gas. This has an impact on the people in the North. Gas prices may not affect the people in the Vanni as much as it may impact the people in Jaffna as most people in the Vanni use firewood. The Tamils in the North are facing far more sensitive issues in addition to the rising cost of living. Q: What are these sensitive issues? A: Well the emotional issue takes precedence over the economic issue. Even if the day to day issues affect their livelihood, the emotional issues take priority. There are a number of emotional issues. Primarily, they are looking for a reasonable political solution. That is lacking. Secondarily, almost 10 years after the war the land issue has not yet been resolved. The security forces are still holding onto private lands. Then there is the accountability issue. People want to know what happened during the war. There are allegations of war crimes being committed. The government assured in 2015 at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that they will look into these incidents. But we don’t see progress, let alone the government taking the initiative to address some issues. The minds of the people have been frozen with what happened during the final stages of the war. You cannot erase it overnight. Recently Minister Champika Ranawaka made a proposal that both sides be pardoned. But there is one issue. The people want those responsible for the crimes to be identified, and then they can be pardoned. Have an independent inquiry to identify who is responsible. There is evidence that some people were handed over to the army during the final stages of the war. In some instances it was in the presence of religious leaders. So what happened to them? If someone gives you something and it goes missing you will want to know what happened to it. Q: While respecting the concerns the people have as you claim, are they not looking ahead to improve their livelihood and living conditions? Are they focused only on issues related to the war? A: They are looking at improving their livelihoods. But the issue related to the war takes priority. Among these issues there is a problem where the Mahaweli Authority, in the pretext of using the Act, is taking land in the North and giving it to people in a very disproportionate way. The Constitution says the allocation of land should be on the basis of the ethnic proportion of the country. But this is not done. These things result in people losing faith in the government. In India, the public trust the government regardless of different political parties and their opinions. They call themselves Indians, they love their Constitution. But here you ask the Tamils they feel the Constitution was imposed on them. There is a process now to change the Constitution. That is good. But at least properly implement the existing Constitution. That is what we are asking. Q: Do you see the process to draft a new Constitution moving ahead? A: I have my doubts but, I don’t want to lose hope either. The draft Constitution is supposed to be presented to Parliament. Let us see. Q: Does Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran command the support of the Tamils in the North? A: I don’t think so. When he contested initially he had that support because he was not known to the people. Now he has proven he is unable to carry out the functions of the Chief Minister. He has thoroughly failed. He is now trying to use various slogans and look like a hero. In my opinion, if he contests at the next election by himself, he would lose. However, if he joins hands with some extremist elements he might have a chance.