Opening A9 route, an election gimmick – Mudiyappu Remedias

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 July 2009, 19:23 GMT]
“Though the Government of Sri Lanka had control of the A9 land route to Jaffna eight months ago it had kept it closed until now when it opens the route for public use as an election gimmick to lure voters in but no one can fool the people of Jaffna, Mudiyappu Remedias, the chief candidate of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), contesting Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election, said in an interview to TamilNet Wednesday

“The government and its ally Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) kept saying that the Liberation Tigers are blocking the A9 road while in reality it was the government that had it closed for public use since January. Why haven’t they opened it until now?”, Remedias asked.

“Why hasn’t the government opened the Mannaar-Jaffna road yet though it said six months ago that it would open the road to public use?” he further questioned.

”A9 route is not a disputed boundary like the Berlin Wall or Kashmir border between two countries but an ordinary road. Yet Sri Lanka government makes much ado about opening the A9 route to public use. Sending passengers through A9 route in five buses Wednesday was a mere election gimmick,” Remedias said.

“When I raised the matter of police not removing the wall posters displaying the images of President Mahinda Rajapakse and Minister Douglas Devananda, Jaffna Senior Superintendent of Police told me that there was no need to remove the posters as the two are not contesting JMC election,” he further said.

“The government which had failed to treat the Tamils honourably is trying to deny their rights under the disguise of development projects but the people of Jaffna peninsula cannot be deceived,” Remedias concluded.

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