Tamil prisoners in North demand Colombo to respond through NPC Chief Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2015, 10:11 GMT]
The deviating section of ITAK parliamentarians within the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), led by R. Sampanthan and M.A. Sumanthiran, have deployed divide and conquer tactics to deceive a section of Tamil political prisoners in the Magazine prison in Colombo to drop their hunger-strike until November 07, Tamil political prisoners in Anuradhapura prison told TamilNet Saturday morning. The political prisoners have severely criticized the move by Mr Sumanthiran and demanded all the parliamentarians of the TNA to collectively address the Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister on securing their release without being treated as criminal offenders. The deceptive move by ITAK politicians comes after a meeting they had with Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, the justice minister of genocidal Sri Lanka, who has been insulting the prisoners by saying there were no Tamil political prisoners in the SL prisons.

Mr Sumanthiran was on his way to the Magazine prison Saturday morning to convince the Tamil political prisoners to abandon their hunger-strike with the promise of getting their cases addressed by the SL courts and has sought time till 07 November, the prisoners in the Magazine prison said.

The prisoners on hunger strike are under severe restrictions to communicate with the outside world. A psychological war was being waged against them, they said.

Mr Sumanthiran was trying to get a number of prisoners who have almost served their terms with minor and symbolic punishments, the prisoners from Anuradhpura prison said.

The prisoners in Anuradhapura have demanded the TNA politicians to act together and address their issue as Tamil Political Prisoners.

The SL President should approach the prisoners on hunger strike through Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, they further said. Their message was conveyed to the TNA through Vanni district parliamentarian Charles Nirmalanathan.

Informed sources in Jaffna said Mr Wigneswaran was awaiting written assurance from the SL President Maithiripala Sirisena.

The leftist groups among the Sinhalese, who have been backing Maithiripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickramasinghe to oust the Rajapaksa regime, have condemned the SL Justice Minister of the UNP for his refusal to recognize the former LTTE fighters in prison as political prisoners.

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