Colombo: President Ranil Wickremesinghe Wednesday met leaders of the Tamil political parties and discussed crucial matters, including the provision of land rights for the people in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces and the implementation of laws related to resettlement and reconciliation.
The talks Thursday were part of the regular meetings with the Tamil parties, which Wickremesinghe initiated a year ago.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) – Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party – has been pressing to discuss their outstanding issues, including the release of Tamil prisoners who have been held under a stringent anti-terrorism law.
“The discussions focused on various important matters, including the provision of land rights for the people in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, the implementation of laws related to resettlement and reconciliation, and the challenges faced by Sri Lankans in refugee camps in India,” a statement from the president’s office said.
Additionally, numerous issues concerning district development in the Northern and Eastern Provinces were addressed, it added.
Wickremesinghe convened an all political party meeting to discuss Tamil issues at the beginning of this year.
However, some parties in the Sinhala majority south did not attend the talks.
Wickremesinghe’s plan to give full powers to the provinces other than police powers came to be shouted down by the powerful Buddhist clergy.
The north and east political solution question remains unaddressed despite Indian interest expressed at different times to see Sri Lanka fully devolve powers to the provinces.
The meeting comes weeks after the Sri Lankan government decided to establish an independent commission in a historic step towards transitional justice and post-conflict reconciliation with the minority Tamil community to strengthen national unity.
This proposed Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation will be established through an Act of Parliament, the president’s office said earlier this month.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had run a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader V Prabhakaran.
India has been pressing Sri Lanka to implement the 13th Amendment, which was brought in after the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement of 1987, to achieve reconciliation with the minority Tamil community. The 13A provides for the devolution of power to the Tamil community.
PTI
