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TNA issues ultimatum to opposition

19 Jul 2021

  • No support unless Tamil national question prioritised 
By Pamodi Waravita The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has told a conference convened by the ‘National Movement for a Just Society’ (NMJS) and attended by nearly all opposition parties, that unless the “Tamil national question” is considered as a primary issue that needs to be addressed by the movement, the TNA would not be moving forward with them. “During the discussion yesterday, I proposed that the Tamil national question should also be included in the movement’s core issues as I consider it to be the most important problem in the country. It led to a three decade war, where over 100,000 people lost their lives. The militaristic defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did not solve the issue. If the rest of the opposition involved in the NMJS  movement is not willing to see that, then we would be continuing forward by ourselves. We do not have to be dependent on anyone else,” TNA spokesperson and parliamentarian President’s Counsel (PC) M.A. Sumanthiran told The Morning yesterday (18).  Sumanthiran PC said that when the movement was first convened under the late Most Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero, a power-sharing solution to the Tamil national question was identified. However, it was pushed to the back in the subsequent years, and the movement failed to deliver some of its topmost promises, including the abolishment of the executive presidency. Attendees at the meeting, including United National Party (UNP) Deputy leader Ruwan Wijewardane, Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader Mano Ganesan, and Samagi Jana Balawegeya (SJB) parliamentarian and leader of the ‘43 Brigade’ Patali Champika Ranawaka had affirmed Sumanthiran’s views, according to him. “We have always stood for democracy. When the constitutional coup happened in 2018, we fought against it in Court, in Parliament, and on the roads. This year, we had the largest protest, the ‘Pottuvil to Pedro’ movement which was joined by over 10, 000 people. We  have been consistent in our calls for democracy in this country but if the NMJS movement proceeds without our requirement, then we would not be a part of it.” Sumanthiran PC added that since the Chairman of the NMJS, former speaker Karu Jayasuriya, had assured him that further discussions on the matter would take place, he had requested that the process be transparent so that the Sinhala people are also aware of their demands.  The NMJS met on 17 Saturday, attended by representatives of the country's main opposition parties, including the SJB, the UNP, the TPA, the TNA, and the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC). However, the JVP had notably not attended the meeting.    


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