TNA to boycott Devananda meeting

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 22:54 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians said Wednesday that they will boycott the District Integration Meeting schedueld for Thursday 16th at the Jaffna Secretariat to be chaired by Sri Lanka Cabinet Minister Douglas Devananda, the leader of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party, with the newly appointed Governor for NorthEast, Rear Admiral (Retd) Mohan Wijeyawickrema, and Mavai Senathirajah, TNA parliamentarian as co-chairmen, TNA sources said. The EPDP is a paramilitary group working with Sri Lanka Government and a political party aligned with the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

TNA holds eight of the total nine elected seats in Jaffna district while Douglas Devananda is the only non-TNA elected candidate.

"The Tamil people have clearly rejected EPDP at the last general elections," said Mavai Senathirajah of TNA.

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were deployed in the area surrounding the Jaffna Secretariat in anticipation of agitations by protestors.

TNA obtained 22 seats in the Sri Lanka parliamentary elections of 2nd April 2004.