TNA up to its usual tricks - Senior Minister

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

The stand taken by the Tamil National Alliance(TNA) to present a case against Sri Lanka at the forthcoming UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)sessions in Geneva is a mere continuation of their pattern of politics, said the leader of the country's oldest political party, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party(LSSP), Senior Minister, and former Chairman of All Party Representatives Committee Prof Tissa Vitharana.

He said in an interview with the Daily News yesterday that presenting cases against Sri Lanka at every UN session has been the practice of this political party for so many years.

"They presented a case against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC sessions last year. They will continue to attack Sri Lanka backed by certain NGOs that are hostile to the present government as usual," he said.

"They are a political party that is happy to see political problems in the country "unresolved."

"They will base their case against Sri Lanka with their usual complaint that Sri Lanka has not adequately implemented recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission Report (LLRC). They are preparing to support another possible US-sponsored resolution against the country," he pointed out.

"It has always been the case with the TNA that they stayed aloof from any processes that are meant to find answers to the national question. They abstained from participating in a Parliamentary Select Committee process, which was mandated to find a solution to the national problem within six months, which was proposed by the President,"he explained.

As pointed out to this newspaper by Chief Government Whip and Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, some recommendations of the LLRC report cannot be implemented without legislative consensus and constitutional changes.

Meanwhile, Western Provincial Council Minister and Secretary General of Jathika Hela Urumaya Udaya Gammanpila said on being asked about the situation of TNA trying to present a case against Sri Lanka at the Geneva sessions, said " TNA has zero impact since all Western superpowers are hellbent on punishing Sri Lanka with or without the TNA's letter.

"Even the implementation of the LLRC has no bearing on this matter because the decision to punish Sri Lanka sprang out of Western countries from the time President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government turned down a request by these countries to halt its military operation against the LTTE terrorists," he said.

"If these Western countries are honest about their conduct, they should not punish the government. They should punish the TNA because in 2012, the TNA members were asked to have a dialogue with the government to find a solution to issues relating to devolution of power by the Western countries to which they paid no regard.

"We as a national political party agreed to participate in the PSC process which was established by President Mahinda Rajapaksa for this purpose without laying any preconditions. The TNA boycotted this process by laying down various demands despite repeated requests by the government to participate in it.

"If the TNA is a political party that loves its people, it should understand that Western Superpowers have intervened in internal matters of other countries ,such as Egypt, Afghanistan, Syria and Lybia of late and the public in theses countries are suffering as a result of theses Western interventions".