Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has been forced to seek international assistance to find a political solution to the national issue as all its efforts to come to a deal with the respective governments have failed, its leader R. Sampanthan said yesterday.
“We are being told not to go to India and not to go to Washington to seek help but we have been trying to find a solution locally until January this year, but there had been no favorable response from the Sri Lankan government,” he said speaking during a ceremony that was organized by his party to commemorate the late Federal Parry Leader S. J. V. Chellvanayagam at Katiresan hall said.
Mr. Sampanthan recalled that TNA were engaged in seven rounds of talks with the present government but the latter did not respond to their request for an acceptable solution. He said the government failed to respond positively for a solution based on a united Sri Lanka despite the assurance given that whatever agreement reached ay the bilateral talks with the government would be the basis for the discussions at the proposed Parliamentary select committee.
He recalled that the present government had been giving assurances since 2006 but had not failed to deliver them.
Mr. Sampathan said the proposals which the APRC committee came up with had been swept under the carpet while suggestion made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) for a accepted solution for the national issue with maximum devolution had also been thrown away by this government.
He also pointed out that concessions reached in 1995, 1997 and in 2000 during the tike of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and also the agreements reached during the peace talks in 2012 were also thrown away by the respective governments. (Yohan Perera)
DM