TNA Chief calls for common national front to resolve issues

Tuesday, 22 July 2014 00:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Tamil National Alliance Leader and veteran Parliamentarian Rajavarothiam Sampanthan has issued a call for the formation of a common political front, with the Sinhalese and the Muslims to address the island’s ethnic question. Speaking at the convention of the EPRLF, a constituent party in the TNA on Sunday, Sampanthan said Tamil politicians were not seeking to secede from Sri Lanka, but merely seeking a reasonable power sharing arrangement for the Tamil people. “We cannot compromise on issues that cannot be compromised. But we cannot be violent. We are not seeking to secede,” he told the EPRLF convention. The Sinhalese and Tamil people must form a common cause to resolve the problems, Sampanthan noted. “The Sinhalese people are not our enemies. We are not opposed to them. They are our friends,” the TNA Leader asserted on Sunday. Sampanthan also urged Muslims leaders to rethink their positions. “This situation cannot continue. Tamil and Muslim people must work together,” he said. He also observed that there was no room for compromise on the need to share power with people in their areas of historic habitation. “Power sharing must be on the basis of sovereignty of people where they have historically lived. Sovereignty belongs to all people, not just to one ethnicity,” the TNA Leader explained. While urging the Tamil people to be firm, Sampanthan also noted that they must be ready to accept and implement a reasonable, sufficient and permanent solution. (DB)