By Easwaran Rutnam Pic by Saman Abesiriwardena A key decision is expected to be reached this week on the steps to be taken to address the political prisoner issue, a decision which may also be a deciding factor on the 2019 Budget. Tamil political prisoners held at the Anuradhapura prison went on a hunger strike for days, who later suspended their strike, as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) looked to put pressure on the government to free the political prisoners. President Maithripala Sirisena has now assured that he will meet with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Attorney General (AG) this week and attempt to reach a final solution on the issue. Sirisena gave the assurance to a TNA delegation led by opposition leader, R. Sampanthan, who met him last week to discuss the issue. Sampanthan told The Sunday Morning that the TNA emphasised on the need for the issue to be given political importance and for it to be addressed soon. “The President gave us an assurance he will meet with the Prime Minister, AG and others and address the issue this week,” he said. Asked if he was confident the matter will be resolved, Sampanthan said that he cannot say he was confident but will wait and see. He said that the next step the TNA will take, will be decided after the President decides how the issue will be resolved. Unresolved issues The TNA had told the President that the Tamil political prisoner issue was not resolved despite repeated demands over the past few years. President Sirisena was also told that some are of the opinion the political prisoner issue is not being resolved as it involves Tamils and not Sinhalese inmates. Most of the prisoners were arrested under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) which is now going to be repealed and replaced with a Counter Terrorism Act. Of those arrested under the PTA only a few were charged while others have been behind bars for years without being charged. The TNA said that if those not charged were charged much earlier they would have completed their jail terms by now. There is a push on the TNA to put more pressure on the government to address the issue soon, failing which they will not get the support of the TNA for the budget. Little faith in the TNA However, Sampanthan said that no decision has been taken to tie the political prisoner issue to TNA’s support for the 2019 Budget. Former TNA parliamentarian, Jaffna based politician Suresh Premachandran said that the TNA must use the budget as its negotiating card to have the political prisoners released. He said that the political prisoner issue must not be looked as a legal issue and seeking the opinion of the Attorney General is of no use. Premachandran, who is very vocal on the issue, told The Sunday Morning, that the government is taking a dual policy on the issue, by allowing former LTTE members like Kumaran Pathmanathan and Karuna to walk free while others facing much less allegations are behind bars. “Pathmanathan was accused of giving arms to the LTTE and Karuna was accused of leading the LTTE in the East during the war. Yet they are free,” he said. remachandran said that the TNA must put more pressure on the government than what they are doing now, as a lot more is expected from them. However, Premachandran said that he does not believe Sampanthan or the President will actually address the issue any time soon. He said that the government is likely to drag the issue till the next election is over as releasing the prisoners may ignite a political storm. “If the government releases the prisoners, Mahinda Rajapaksa might use it and say that the government has freed LTTE cadres. That will then go against the government at the next election. The government wants the Sinhalese vote so they might just drag this,” he said. There is a feeling some of those reported missing after the war might be among those detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Missing without a trace However a clear disparity remains on how many people have been reported missing during and after the war in Sri Lanka. According to the Paranagama Commission, it received 21,000 complaints on individuals said to have gone missing. The International Committee of the Red Cross documented 16,000 missing as of 2016 of which 5,100 are members of the security forces. While the government is yet to issue an official list on the number of those missing, some families have now taken into their own hands the task of compiling reports on the missing. Last week families of the disappeared in Mannar released a report on 414 individuals which was seen as an important document which can be used in the search for the missing. The document notes that the Sri Lankan security forces, Tamil armed groups and some unknown persons were among those responsible for some of the abductions. Human Rights Commissioner Ambika Satkunanathan, speaking at the Mannar event, said that the document is a key component in the search for the truth. Also last week, the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) met families from the Western Province in Colombo and briefed them on the on-going process to address the issue on people reported missing. The meeting took place at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute in Colombo. The OMP heard from the families of the missing and took their suggestions. The OMP also briefed the families on the interim report of the OMP, which was released last month. The meeting in Colombo was for the families of the disappeared and missing from the three districts of the Western Province and some 150 individuals attended the meeting. “For the OMP the meeting was another reminder of how disappearances impact families in multiple ways. Families spoke of the painful search for their missing loved one and the agony they continue to experience not knowing what has happened to them. Families spoke of the economic suffering they endure as a result of the loss of an income earner, the social stigma they face from a society that has no sympathy for their plight and the toll it continues to have on their family life. The concerns expressed at this public meeting in Colombo reinforced the common themes reinforced that regardless of the context of the disappearance – post-war white van abductions, the JVP Insurrections, and the war in the North and East,” OMP Commissioner Mirak Raheem told The Sunday Morning. He said the concerns and demands made by families in the meetings reinforced the urgent need to provide interim relief and ensure justice. Raheem also said that the families raised questions; as to whether the Government would implement the recommendations of the OMP, and what steps the OMP was taking to follow up to ensure implementation.