Wigneswaran wants self-rule for Tamils in North and East

By Dinasena Ratugamage

Former Northern Province Chief Minister and Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani (TMTK) leader C.V. Wigneswaran said that issues faced by the Tamil people would not end until the Sri Lankan Constitution recognised the Tamil homeland and allowed self-rule for the Tamils in the North and East. “This is the only way to secure their rights and give them the freedom they deserve,” he said.

Speaking to Jaffna-based journalists, Wigneswaran said that Sinhala Buddhist leaders of the country needed to know that Tamils’s rights had to be safeguarded.

“Everyone must admit that Tamils have the same rights as everyone else in Sri Lanka. The North and East of Sri Lanka are the homelands of the Tamils.”

Wigneswaran said that it was important to raise those points at a time when a new Constitution was being drafted. He said that Sinhala Buddhist leaders of Sri Lanka had always tried to undermine the concept of a Tamil homeland.

“The war ended 12 years ago but the Army is still in the North and the East. Because they are there, the Tamils can’t enjoy all the resources that are rightfully theirs. Some lands are held by the Army and this has caused a land crisis,” he said.