TNA says US, India must play stronger role

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said that the United States and India must play a clearer and stronger role to ensure that Tamils are given a political solution to their concerns.

TNA spokesperson and former Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran said that the US seemed to have gotten involved with Sri Lanka ahead of the 8 January presidential elections to reduce the role China had in Sri Lanka.

 “They may now prefer the current Government to remain in power,” Premachandran said at a media conference in Jaffna yesterday.

Premachandran said that while some countries had other interests in Sri Lanka, the sole focus of the TNA was to ensure that Tamils were given the political solution they needed and not one which satisfied others.

He said that Sri Lanka’s closest neighbor India had a responsibility to ensure that Tamils got an acceptable political solution.

The TNA, in its election manifesto, had noted that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which was part of a deal signed between India and Sri Lanka in 1987, was flawed.

Premachandran said that India was informed by the TNA over and over again that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was not fully acceptable by the Tamils.

He said that a permanent political solution for the Tamils would be good for India’s security and also for some other countries.

The former TNA Parliamentarian, who was contesting the 17 August parliament election, said that the TNA was keen on a political solution for the Tamils within a united and undivided Sri Lanka. (Colombo Gazette)