TNA to boycott Eastern PC elections - MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 23:35 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will not contest in the forthcoming Provincial Council elections for the Eastern Province as the alliance "steadfastly opposed the de-merger of the North Eastern Provincial Council (NEPC) in January 2007 by the Government of Sri Lanka," Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy told TamilNet Tuesday. "We do not want to fall prey to the policy of divide and rule of the Sri Lankan government," the parliamentarian further said.

"The unified NorthEast as a single administrative unit is a cornerstone principle," he said. The TNA would soon release an official statement on the decision to boycott the elections, Mr. Jeyanandamoorthy said.

"In this context, contesting in the scheduled Eastern Provincial council election would be an act of giving up our legitimate rights."

Saying that the GoSL has violated the arrangement based on the Indo-Lanka agreement, the Batticaloa MP urged the Indian government to prevail upon Sri Lanka to honour the "aspirations of the Tamil speaking people on the basis of the historical reality that the Northern and Eastern provinces were the areas of historical habitation of the Tamil speaking people."

"When the TNA delegation met the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in December 2006, he expressed commitment to the restoration of the merged North – East," the TNA parliamentarian said.

"India should not allow itself to be manipulated by the Sri Lankan government which wants to proceed with the divide and rule policy against the aspirations of the Tamil speaking people."

He reminded that the Co-Chairs for Sri Lanka peace process, comprising the United States, EU, Japan and Norway, had clearly expressed that there should be no change to the specific arrangements for the North and East which could endanger the achievement of peace.

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