British Embassy officials meet TNA's Amparai MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2003, 21:33 GMT]
A team headed by the head of the Press and Public Affairs division at the British Embassy (High Commission) in Sri Lanka, Ms.Margaret Tongue, Wednesday met with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Amparai, Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandraneru, at his office in Amparai, sources in Batticaloa said.

The meeting was to discuss the situation in resettled villages, basic facilities for the people in the district and the tensions between the Muslim and Tamil communities in the district, the sources said.

Mr. Chandraneru told the visiting officials that there was no real problem between the two communities and that some Muslim politicians were instigating ethnic tensions to garner more Muslim votes.

“When a Muslim youth is killed, instead of making an investigation and finding out the real culprits behind the killing, the killing is automatically attributed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and books are released to blacken the LTTE and the Tamil community. This is one of the reasons for the recent tension," Mr. Chandraneru told the British team.

“In 1985 and 1990, thirteen Tamil villages in the district were completely destroyed, but in those days the war environment did not permit complaints of such destruction. Muslim youths who are drafted into the Home guard, have on several occasions massacred a large number of Tamil people," Mr. Chandraneru said, citing the examples of Veeramunai and Aligambai massacres.

On the matter of resettlement and providing basic facilities to people, Mr. Chandraneru said that such resettlement and development could take place only if there is an Interim Administration with adequate powers administered by the LTTE.

Rev. S.A.I. Matthew, former president of the Rotary Club in Amparai, Mr. K.N. Tharmalingam and members of the Amparai Tamil Maha Sangam also participated at the meeting, sources said.

On Thursday, the visiting British embassy officials would be meeting LTTE leaders in Amparai, including Mr. Bawa, the political head in the district, Mr. Kuyilinpan, his deputy and Mr. Thevan, the administrative head, at the LTTE’s political office in Akkaraipattu, the sources said.