Minister Samarasinghe tells UN:
‘Do not consider TNA as sole rep of Tamil public’
Chamikara WEERASINGHE
Sri Lanka’s Special Envoy on Human Rights, Minister Mahinda
Samarasinghe has asked United Nations Under Secretary for Political
Affairs Lynn Pascoe and UN Secretary General’s Chief of Staff Vijay
Nambiar, not to consider the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) as the sole
representative of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Dr. N Maheshwari |
Minister Samarasinghe who attended the 66th session of the United
Nations General Assembly in New York, told the Daily News that he made
it known to Nambiar and Pascoe that TNA is not the only representative
of the Tamil people.
Samarasinghe said he told Nambiar and Pascoe that they should be
careful in dealing with the TNA for there are other political parties
that represent the voice of Tamil people whose ideas and political views
are quite contrary to that of the TNA.
The minister said he briefed Nambiar and Pascoe on the political
situation in Sri Lanka and the progress of the government’s
reconciliation process and North and East development during meetings
held on the sidelines of the Third Committee meeting of the UN assembly.
“I pointed out to them that there are Tamil political parties in the
South where majority of Tamil people live, and they too want to discuss
with the UN officials about their ideas and the UN will have to invite
them too,” said Samarasinghe.
”I told them that in this case they will not have time for anything
other than discussing Sri Lankan politics with the leaders of the Tamil
political parties in Sri Lanka,” he said.
‘I pointed out to them the statistics of the 2010 general elections
and showed them that in the Vanni district the TNA only polled 38.96
percent whereas the UPFA polled 35 percent of the votes. In the
Trincomalee district , TNA could only get 23.81 percent of the votes,
whereas the UPFA secured 42.78 percent, he said.
Asked if he had met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on these
occasions , he said he met Moon with Nambiar once and briefed them on
the elections that were held in the country after the war, its de-mining
success, resettlement of IDPs, rehabilitation of ex-combatants and also
about the progress of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).
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