By Arthur Wamanan
The failure of the government to divulge the list of Tamil detainees for the second time has irked the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
The TNA yesterday expressed its anger and frustration at the government for calling off a scheduled visit to the Terrorism Investigations Department office in Vavuniya at the eleventh hour.
The TNA in its meetings with the government delegation has been calling for the release of the list of names of the detainees and the latter agreed to divulge the list. TNA Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran said that UPFA parliamentarian and Secretary to the Committee on Long Term Reconciliation through Political Settlement, Sajin Vass Gunawardena had informed that they would not be able to travel as many were on holiday.
“We were supposed to leave today (16), but were informed that it was not possible as the officials were away on holiday due to the New Year,” Premachandran said yesterday.
“This kind of attitude shakes the confidence we have in the whole process,” Premachandran added.
A similar situation arose a few months ago when the government assured that the list of detainees could be obtained at the Vavuniya TID office. However, the relatives of the detainees who had gone to the TID were sent back. The TNA in a letter to Gunawardena on February 22 said that the government’s misinformation has caused embarrassment to the TNA.
The TNA said that the government had handed over a document mentioning the availability of the list of detainees during its meeting with the TNA on February 3.
Premachandran said that the TNA would raise this matter with the government delegation during the next meeting scheduled for April 29
The Nation