The Government believes that longstanding issues faced by the people of the Northern and Eastern Provinces can no longer be addressed through outdated political solutions, and that it is necessary to move towards a new political framework, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said.
President Dissanayake further said that the support of everyone is essential for the new political framework.
He made the remarks during a meeting with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (19), following a request made by the TNA. Discussions focused on the Provincial Council elections and the need for a new Constitution.
The meeting also included discussions on long-standing regional issues such as fisheries disputes, land concerns and the need for improved infrastructure and development in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. At the same time, the President issued immediate directives to the relevant officials to ensure that solutions would be implemented for certain issues raised by the TNA representatives.
The President’s Office said that the TNA representatives noted that their party is prepared to extend full cooperation to any government project aimed at the development of the Northern Province.
Meanwhile, former Member of Parliament M. A. Sumanthiran said the TNA, as a political party representing the Tamil people, is ready to support any government decision taken against extremism.
In a post on ‘X’, Sumanthiran said, during the meeting that took place for over 1 1/2 hours, the TNA pointed out to the President that the party stood for a meaningful power-sharing arrangement within a federal structure, by whatever name it is called.
“We also pointed out that the first promise in the President’s Election Manifesto (page 230) was to speedily complete the 2016-2019 constitutional reform process. Although there was no agreement with the eventual draft, when the Steering Committee discussed the Principles of Devolution at its 31st meeting, there was agreement on 14 matters (I handed a copy to the President; he and I were both members of the steering committee),” he said.
Sumanthiran went on to note that the TNA also pointed out that from the Banda-Chelva pact, to the Dudley-Chelva pact, and to the post-13th Amendment reform proposals (1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2007 and 2019), all of them were in the same direction towards greater devolution to the provinces.
“The JVP also had agreed to this in the last process of 2016-2019, which is what the President had promised in his Election Manifesto. We categorically stated that nothing new needs to be started – we only have to complete the process based on all the previous agreements,” Sumanthiran added.
TNA Members of Parliament Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, P. Sathiyalingam, G.Srinesan, S. Sridharan, T. Raviharan, K. Kodishwaran, K. S. Kugathasan, together with former MPs M. A. Sumanthiran and C. V. K. Sivagnanam, participated in the discussion. Secretary to the President, Nandika Sanath Kumanayake and Senior Additional Secretary to the President, Roshan Gamage, were also present. (Newswire)