Proposed IA should lead towards final political solution - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 June 2003, 11:05 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday requested the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe to formulate a structure for an Interim Administration (IA) for the Tamil dominated northeast province that serves as a step towards finding a permanent political solution to the national conflict, TNA sources said.

The TNA delegation led by its parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan met the Prime Minister at his office at the parliamentary complex. TNA parliamentarians V.Anandasangaree, Joseph Pararajasingham, Selvam Adaikalanathan, G.G.Gajendrakumar, M.K.Sivajilingam, A.Vinayagamoorthy, N.Raviraj, Mavai Senathirajah, Raja Kuhaneswaran, Sivasakthi Anandan, A.Chandra Nehru and K.Thurairetnasingham attended the discussion. Parliamentarians K.Thangavadivel and G.Krishnapillai were absent, sources said.

Minister Mr. G.L.Peiris was present with the Prime Minister who accepted in policy the urgent need of an interim administration for the northeast province, TNA sources said.

TNA delegation told the Prime Minister that only by establishing an interim administration with adequate powers to deal with the rebuilding of the war ravaged province effectively the peace process could be salvaged from the present impasse, sources said.

The discussion between the Prime Minister and the TNA delegation lasted for about forty minutes, sources said.

Meanwhile leaders of the constituent parties of the TNA, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF-Suresh wing) met Wednesday night at the office of the TULF and discussed about streamlining the activities of the Tamil National Alliance.

They discussed in detail about the shortcomings and drawbacks in building up the TNA as strong Tamil political force at this critical juncture, sources said.

At conclusion, party leaders agreed to increase the members of the TNA action committee to twelve from eight, by including an additional member for each party. The present action committee comprises three members from each constituent party, sources said.

The Secretary General of the EPRLF (Suresh Wing) Mr.Suresh Premachandran was appointed as the new convener of the Tamil National Alliance to devote more time to buildup up the TNA and its activities in the future, sources said.