TNA said standing on Thimpu foundation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2002, 20:53 GMT]
“The Thimpu principles were upheld by Kumar Ponnambalam. His stand was called preposterous by some (Tamil politicians) at the time. But the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) now stands on the firm foundation of the Thimpu principles. His struggle was not in vain”, said Mr. Nallaiah Kumarakurparan, the general secretary of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, a constituent of the Tamil National Alliance, addressing a meeting in Trincomalee town Sunday to mark the second death anniversary of Mr. Ponnambalam who was assassinated in Colombo in January 2000. An independent English language paper reproduced a Police report last week alleging that Mr. Ponnambalam was killed on the orders of the former Deputy Defence Minister, Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte’s son.

Mr. R. Sampnathan, TNA MP for Tincomalee, Mr.Ponnamblam’s widow and his son were present at the meeting held in the Trincomalee town hall Sunday evening. Mr. M.A.M Mahroof, UNP MP for Trincomalee also spoke.

“It seems that the UNF government has the will to do some things positively to solve the burning problem of the country. However we cannot have trust in anyone until the Tamil national question is solved through talks between the LTTE and the Sri Lanka government with the international third party mediation” Mr.Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian told TamilNet in Trincomalee Sunday.

“The ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam should be lifted before the commencement of the peace talks between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government through international third party mediation,” according to him. He said: “we have reiterated this to the Norwegian delegation last week in Colombo. The Norwegian delegation had promised to present our firm stand to the UNF government and the President”.

“Tamil political parties have now formed an alliance (TNA) to represent the aspirations of the Tamils to the Sinhala government and to the international community. Hence, it is the responsibility of the two main political parties (Peoples' Alliance and United National Front) to forge a consensus now to find the political solution to the Tamil national question." said Mr. Gajendrakumar.