TNA demands N&E remerger

By Dinasena Ratugamage

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan has told US Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz that the provincial council system is not enough to resolve the issues faced by the Tamils in the North and East and that both provinces must be merged and administered by the Tamil people.

Sampanthan yesterday told the media that they had had a lengthy discussion with Teplitz about the promises made by the government to the international community on resolving the issues faced by the Tamil people.

Sampanthan also said they had discussed the UN resolution against Sri Lanka. Teplitz and several other Embassy staffers met a TNA delegation at the TNA leader’s official residence in Colombo.

“We told the Ambassador that all governments were not sincere in their proposals to resolve the grievances of the Tamil people in the North and the East. Therefore, this issue had been dragging on for decades,” he said.

The TNA delegation told the US Ambassador that the international community must directly intervene to provide a solution to the struggle of the Tamils. “The time has come for a concrete solution to the issues faced by the Tamils in the country,” Sampanthan said.

TNA MPs M. A. Sumanthiran and Selvam Adaikalanathan and former MP Mavai Senathirajah also took part in the meeting.