Sunday, July 31, 2011By Easwaran RutnamThe Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has demanded equal rights for Tamils and slammed a comment by a government minister who they say made derogatory comments against the Tamil population.
“We will not allow the government or anyone else to treat the Tamils as a minority anymore. If the Sri Lankan government thinks the Sinhalese are the majority and the Tamils are the minority, then they are mistaken,” TNA MP Suresh Premachandran told The Sunday Leader.
Government Minister Champika Ranawaka had on Tuesday July 26, said, “Just because they won a few councils they must not demand police and land powers. They need to take note of the fact that 56 per cent of the voters had voted to retain the unitary character of the country,” he said.
He accused the TNA of trying to use the USA to try and intervene in order to win Tamil demands. “We the Sinhalese will not kneel down before the US or any other power. As long as the power of the saffron robe of the Buddhist monks remained they will not be able to achieve what they aim for,” Ranawaka added.
Premachandran said that by making controversial remarks against the Tamil population in Sri Lanka, the government was only creating another rift between the two communities in the country. “Government ministers should be mindful of the remarks they make against the Tamil community. The Tamils will not allow or accept any foolish remarks made by certain Sinhalese government ministers,” Premachandran said.
Sri Lanka is only just recovering from a brutal war which lasted nearly three decades in which the LTTE was demanding a separate state for the minority Tamil community. Following the defeat of the LTTE in 2009 the Tamil National Alliance, which had once accepted the policies of the rebels, began talks with the Sri Lankan government to find a solution to Tamil concerns. During recent local council elections the Tamil National Alliance won majority support in the Tamil dominated north of the country while the government won the polls in the Sinhalese dominated south.
=========================================================
Stop treating Tamils as minority: Premachandran MP
Suresh Premachandran MP, Tamil National Alliance
[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 July 2011, 20:37 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran on Sunday touched on an important conceptual issue related to the national question in the island that affects equality between Tamils and Sinhalese, when he criticized those who treat Tamils as a ‘minority’. “We will not allow the government or anyone else to treat the Tamils as a minority anymore. If the Sri Lankan government thinks the Sinhalese are the majority and the Tamils are the minority, then they are mistaken,” Mr. Premachandran told The Sunday Leader.
Premachandran had said this answering the SL minister Champika Ranawaka, reported The Sunday Leader feature by Easwaran Rutnam.
But political analysts in the island observed that the conceptual connotations of Premachandran’s statement are far-reaching and are addressed to a wide-range of players harping on solutions within a ‘united Sri Lanka’: ranging from those who are within the TNA seeking terms acceptable to the Sinhalese in finding models of solutions to those who are in the international arena seeking ‘innovative and creative ways’ of solutions. Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 July 2011, 20:37 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran on Sunday touched on an important conceptual issue related to the national question in the island that affects equality between Tamils and Sinhalese, when he criticized those who treat Tamils as a ‘minority’. “We will not allow the government or anyone else to treat the Tamils as a minority anymore. If the Sri Lankan government thinks the Sinhalese are the majority and the Tamils are the minority, then they are mistaken,” Mr. Premachandran told The Sunday Leader.
Premachandran had said this answering the SL minister Champika Ranawaka, reported The Sunday Leader feature by Easwaran Rutnam.
But political analysts in the island observed that the conceptual connotations of Premachandran’s statement are far-reaching and are addressed to a wide-range of players harping on solutions within a ‘united Sri Lanka’: ranging from those who are within the TNA seeking terms acceptable to the Sinhalese in finding models of solutions to those who are in the international arena seeking ‘innovative and creative ways’ of solutions. Full story >>
