Sufferings of tamil people:

'LTTE, former Tamil leadership responsible'

Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister Douglas Devananda said at a ceremony at the 'Nallur Navalar' Cultural hall in Jaffna on November 6, that the root cause of the difficulties that the Tamil people faced was the incorrect course of action the former Tamil leadership had resorted to.

The minister said that it was the vanquished LTTE and TNA, including the former Tamil leadership, that caused immense sufferings to the Tamil people. "They are responsible for the problems faced by the Tamil people. The government is looking into the difficulties and problems of the Tamils and easing their pain now," the minister added.

The ceremony was held to mark the handing over of appointment letters to 160 graduates and distribution of agricultural equipment to selected farmer families in the area.

Minister Devananda who was the chief guest on the occasion said that the delay in giving appointments was due to the fact that the Northern Governor and he were of the view that no injustice should take place in giving appointments. Though some delays had taken place, the appointments were given to the most suitable, consequent to conducting an examination for this, the minister added.

He also said that those who felt that some injustice had taken place when granting appointments, as had been reported in a Tamil newspaper that day, could certainly take legal action The minister said that it was necessary to make use of the opportunity given to them by serving and guiding the people by creating an ideal society whilst bettering them selves. The new appointments comprised of staff officers, project assistants, soil analysts and pre-school teachers.

Minister Devananda said in the past the Tamil politicians misled the people and in the future, it was imperative that people tread a correct political path so as not to let unfortunate incidents of the nature that occurred in the past to recur.

"Those who received appointments as pre-school teachers had the responsibility of moulding our future generation and making them law-abiding and duty-bound citizens of our country", he said.

The minister thanked President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Northern Governor Maj Gen G A Chandrasiri on behalf of the people of the North.

Concerning the development of agriculture in the North, the minister said that he had contemplated providing agricultural equipment on concessionary loan basis to farmers so that an average farmer could contribute more to the development of the country as a whole. He went on to say that the wish of the Tamil people was to live as Sri Lankans with an identity of their own. And that every citizen in this country was bound to perform a certain duty towards national security and progress of the country.