TNA MPs to boycott NE Province Governor's meet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 June 2004, 02:20 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians decided to abstain from a meeting called by the Governor of NorthEast Province to discuss development activities for the Province, media sources reported. The decision to boycott the meeting was taken in Colombo Wednesday, according to reports.

Tamil media has recently been speculating that there has been initiatives directed by the Sri Lanka's President to spot light activities of the NorthEast Provincial Council, in an attempt to weaken the claim for the Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) by the Liberation Tigers.

A Senior TNA Parliamentarian expressed similar suspicions and indicated that the meeting called by the NorthEast Governer is a step towards projecting the Provincial Council as a suitable administrative instrument for funneling funds for NorthEast development and to urge the international community to start disbursing aid funds through the Provincial Council.

TNA parliamentarians said that they are seriously concerned of this development and would not participate in activities that will undermine the Tamil peoples' mandate for institutionalizing the ISGA.

The parliamentarians have requested the NorthEast Provincial Principal Secretary to postpone the meeting until they are able to determine the real motives for convening such hurriedly scheduled meeting, the reports further said.