TELO councillor of NPC questions ‘achievements’ of TNA hierarchy

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2018, 18:34 GMT]
35 years have elapsed since pogrom of Black July, which was waged against the Eezham Tamils with the sponsorship of the UNP regime at that time. The incumbent SL Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramasinghe of the UNP, was a cabinet minister at that time when his fellow cabinet ministers were actively backing the pogrom. The late J.R. Jayawardene, who was the president at that time, came with the infamous declaration ‘war for war, peace for peace’ and escalated the pogrom. This month, Ranil Wickramasinghe has been visiting Jaffna to deceive the Tamil people with so-called development, says NPC Councillor Vinthan Kanagaratnam of the TELO. He called it a shame that the TNA parliamentarians were collaborating with the UNP-SLFP government even after failing to win anything tangible from them.

His criticism of the TNA parliamentarians also targets TELO's Selvam Adaikalanathan, who is the deputy chairman of committees of the SL Parliament.



Back in 1983, the Black July pogrom was committed during the times of the UNP. The SLFP was responsible for similar pogroms in the past. Historically, both the parties have been competing with each other in winning Sinhala votes by going against the Tamils, Vinthan Kanagaratnam said.

However, these parties have now openly demonstrated that they would not be changing the anti-Tamil modus operandi even if they were to form the government jointly, he said.

The NPC Councillor also pointed out the position of the UNP and the SLFP in deceiving Tamils with the talk of new constitution finally to obstruct everything.

In 2015, there was an expectation among the Tamils when they voted for a change from Rajapaksa regime.

Now, Tamils have learned another lesson that these parties, even if they work jointly, would continue to commit the same injustices against Tamils, the TELO Councillor of the NPC said.

Tamils are now subjected to the worst forms of structural genocide under the present regime, he said. Justice is denied as evidenced by the protests going on for more than 500 days in the North-East. Tamil Political Prisoners (TPPs) continue to languish in the jails. Mothers of the enforced disappeared have no answers. Uprooted people are struggling.

It is a well-established fact that these parties are not prepared to pay reparations to the victims of the genocide. They are not ready to be accountable for 1983 pogroms as well as for all the crimes that followed until Mu'l'livaaykkaal, he said.

It is under these circumstances, the parliamentarians of the TNA are pursuing collaborative politics with the UNP. It is a shame that the TNA parliamentarians have extended their unconditional support to Ranil Wickramasinghe, Vinthan Kanagaratnam said.

What have the TNA parliamentarians achieved so far, he asked.

Colombo wants to checkmate the NPC by allocating money to TNA parliamentarians to carry out so-called development projects, which are mere deceptions, he said.

The question from the TELO NPC Councillor comes at a time when SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe and SL Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera of the UNP want to create a rift between the NPC led by Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran and the TNA parliamentarians, who are controlled by R. Sampanthan and M.A. Sumanthiran.

In the meantime, the latest talk of ‘development’ through the TNA parliamentarians, target to hijack the next formation of the NPC, political observers in Jaffna commented.

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