By Skandha Gunasekara Vehemently opposing the statements made by President Maithripala Sirisena while addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) slammed the Government for failing to fulfil its commitments made to the UN and the Sri Lankan citizenry. Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and Leader of the TNA Parliamentarian R Sampanthan, told The Sunday Morning that the Government must keep its promise to accommodate the rights of the Tamil people in accordance with the Constitution. Below are excerpts from his interview with The Sunday Morning: President Sirisena, while addressing the UNGA, said that Sri Lanka needs the freedom to carry out the process of accountability and reconciliation independently, and called on foreign powers to refrain from interfering. Do you believe that Sri Lanka does not require the assistance of the international community in addressing issue pertaining to human rights? I think the President is putting the cart before the horse here. The failure of the Sri Lankan Government to give equal rights to the Tamil people in accordance with the Constitution is extremely disappointing. He should first tell the UN what he and the Government plan to do to address the grievances faced by the Tamil people – he should start with that. Sri Lanka made two commitments before the UN, one in 2015 and another in 2017. So how can Sri Lanka now say that we don’t need the assistance of the international community? President should address the right issues. Has the Government done enough with regards to accountability and human rights? I must admit that human rights, fundamental rights, an independent judiciary, and independent commissions have all been addressed and advanced. The current Government is far better than the former administration. The issue, however, is the question of what needs to be done to ensure non-occurrence of what happened in the past. What more could be done by the Government in this regard? The Government has failed to address the fundamental issue despite pledging such commitments; the accommodation of the rights of the Tamil people in accordance with the National Constitution. This will contribute to Sri Lanka becoming an indivisible, undivided country. Ethnic minorities are gathering around ethnic minority based political parties more and more while distancing themselves from the mainstream political parties. Why do you think this is? This is indicative of their discontent with the mainstream parties. They cannot place their trust in the major parties as these parties have failed to deliver on their promises. Therefore, ethnic minority voters are moving away. The ethnic conflict and separatist war originated with the language parity issue. Has the Government fully implemented the use of Tamil language in the public sector? Violence started far before the LTTE was formed; as far back as 1956 and has been a feature every decade till the war ended. The LTTE was a response for what was happening to the Tamil people under the Sri Lankan Government. Successive Sri Lankan governments made pledges to the UN, India, Japan, and Norway but they failed in upholding these pledges. Now, the Government is reneging on its commitments made to the international community. Is this fair? Can the Government expect this to continue? Can the Government succeed? Not enough has been done with regard to the use of the Tamil language in the public sector. In fact, we see a lot of discrimination against Tamils. During a recent recruitment process in a state department, not even 2% of those selected were Tamil. On the questions of land, human rights, and law and order there is some improvement but the Government is at fault in many vital areas and they must address these issues swiftly. Government Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe claims that the TNA is with the Government in Parliament because it accepts that the Government has made progress. Is this true? We are not with the Government in Parliament on account of what they have and have not done. We are with the Government for the process of bringing about constitutional reforms, but are extremely disappointed with the Government on other issues. Samarasinghe is not a person who can be taken seriously on this matter. Soon after the war concluded, Samarasinghe claimed that not a single citizen was killed during the war. He should not be taken seriously on the topic of human rights.