‘Protests against 13th A, only helping the TNA’

Suraj A Bandara

Sections of the country who were protesting against the 13th Amendment were actually helping the TNA, whose prime objective had been to discredit the country before the International community by being a pro-LTTE activist group, Foreign Employment Minister Dilan Perera said.

The government had established a Provincial Council for the Eastern province some times back, then, why do they worry about the establishment of a Provincial Council for the North? Are they not people of this country? What is the rationale behind the refusal of a Northern Provincial Council? the Minister queried.

The Minister made these comments, when he addressed a public gathering after the opening of the Nilwala Training Centre in Gokarella recently. This had been the sixth private training centre belonging to the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) and the second outside Colombo. Presently, there were 30 training centres set up, covering each district in the country with Bureau owned 24 training centres. The Minister further said these elements who publicly admitted that they were involved in killings during the terror era, were again trying to continue the killing trend in the country. That was the reason they voice their displeasure and agitate for the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, he said.

“Neither these parties speak of what they receive from the country nor do they mention the benefits the country could enjoy through the 13th Amendment to the Constitution,” he said.

It is crystal clear the objective behind the anger for the 13th Amendment was to keep this crisis situation continuing and let other countries be convinced that the Sri Lankan Government was ill treating the Tamil people in the North. So this was indirectly an LTTE made agenda and they have made use of the 13th Amendment as a helping hand of the TNA.

“If we analyse this situation, we would be able to see that not even a hair of this anti 13th Amendment group had been shaken by the LTTE during their killing spree of those who supported the amendment. LTTE killed all UNP, SLFP and Leftist leaders, but none of these elements had been affected by the LTTE. So, this was clearly a helping movement for the LTTE, he explained.

“The ulterior motive of the TNA by asking a Northern Provincial Council, was in fact some thing they did not want. As long as the Northern Provincial Council is set up, they could find faults of the Government and show the world they were being ill treated.

“If the people in the North are also Sri Lankans, we must give them a provincial council. Then only could the true victory of the war be celebrated,” he said.