31 Dec 2014 - The Hindu

TNA pledges support to opposition’s Maithripala Sirisena

MEERA SRINIVASAN

TNA believes that Mahinda Rajapaksa failed to heal the island’s long-standing ethnic conflict despite ending 25 years of civil war, said party leader R. Sampanthan.

Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party representing the island’s northern Tamils on Tuesday pledged its support to joint opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena in the upcoming presidential polls.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had unanimously decided to extend its fullest support to Mr. Sirisena, said its Leader R. Sampanthan, releasing a detailed statement that accused President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s “regime of being particularly harmful to the well-being of the Tamil-speaking people of Sri Lanka.”

Mr. Sampanthan also said that though, following the end of the war, the environment was conducive for a peaceful and honourable resolution of the conflict, the Sri Lankan government and President Rajapaksa did not use the opportunity. “We feel a senior politician like Mr. Sirisena should be given the opportunity,” as Mr. Rajapaksa had displayed a desire to delay the process of arriving at a reasonable political solution, the TNA leader said.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/tamil-national-alliance-backs-opposition-candidate-in-sri-lanka-presidential-polls/article6738507.ece

On whether the TNA was hopeful of realising its long-pending demand for substantive devolution of political powers to the Tamils in Mr. Sirisena’s leadership — given that his manifesto is silent on the subject — Mr. Sampanthan said “we would rather repose faith in Mr. Sirisena.”

“We are looking for a peaceful, honourable and a permanent solution within the framework of a united and an undivided Sri Lanka.”

He said the TNA, having watched President Rajapaksa’s performance for the last 10 years — and particularly since 2010 when he began his second term — deemed it fit to back Mr. Sirisena “rather than expect what has not happened in the last 10 years to happen now [under President Rajapaksa]”.

The TNA leadership has been repeatedly pointing to Colombo stifling the Northern Provincial Council formed after the TNA secured a massive mandate in the September 2013 provincial elections. It has voiced concern over excessive militarisation of the North and alleged land grab by the army.

The TNA’s decision comes days after the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), the primary Muslim party here, quit the government to join the common opposition platform.

Close contest

With the main parties representing the island’s Tamil and Muslim minorities deciding to endorse the common opposition candidate, the January 8 contest appears closer now, since both President Rajapaksa and his challenger Mr. Sirisena come from similar Sinhala-Buddhist constituencies.

Amid concerns among sections over possible intimidation of voters to prevent them from participating in the elections, Mr. Sampanthan urged the Tamils to come out in large numbers and vote in favour of Mr. Sirisena.

“We appeal to the Elections Commissioner and the Inspector General of Police to ensure that people able to exercise their sovereign right to vote,” Mr. Sampanthan said.

"ටීඑන්ඒ" මෛත්‍රීට

දයා ලංකාපුර

මෙවර ජනාධිපතිවරණයේ දී විපක්‍ෂයේ පොදු අපේක්‍ෂක මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාට සහාය දීමට දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය (ටීඑන්ඒ) ඊයේ (30 වැනිදා) එක්‌විය.

දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් 13 දෙනා ඇතුළු පළාත් සභා, ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා සහ නගර සභා නියෝජනය කරන මහජන නියෝජිතයන්ගේ හා ක්‍රියාකාරීන්ගේ පූර්ණ සහයෝගය මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාට ලබාදෙන බව එම සන්ධානයේ නායක ආර්. සම්බන්දන් මහතා ඊයේ

(30 දා) කොළඹ පැවැති පුවත්පත් සාකච්ඡාවකදී පැවසීය.

ජනාධිපතිවරණයට තරග කරන ප්‍රධාන අපේක්‍ෂකයන් දෙදෙනාගේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ගැඹුරින් සළකා බලා තම සන්ධානයේ හවුල්කාර පක්‍ෂවල නායකයන් හා උතුරු නැගෙනහිර දෙමළ ජනතාවගේද අදහස්‌ විමසීමෙන් පසු මෙම තීරණය ගත් බව හෙතෙම ඊයේ (30 දා) කොළඹ පැවැති ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී පැවසීය........

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