Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader and Parliamentarian R. Sampanthan today (15) met the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz to discuss the assurances given by the Sri Lankan Government to solve the national ethnic question.
The meeting was attended by the President of the Tamil National Alliance Sampanthan, the leader of the ITAK Mavai Senadhirasa, TELO leader Selvam Adikalanath and the Member of Parliament MA Sumanthiran had discussed a number of issues with Teplitz today.
Media reports last week also indicated that the TNA is unhappy with the appointment of the retired Inspector General of Police (IGP) Jayantha Wickramaratne as the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) Chairman, which was established during the previous United National Front led Government and is mandated with protecting the rights of the disappeared and their families.
Earlier this year, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed the Resolution A/HRC/46/L.1, which recognises the importance of preserving evidence relating to violations of human rights in Sri Lanka to advance accountability, and as such a call has been made to implement an “evidence preserving” mechanism in the country. It was adopted on 23 March at the UNHRC with 22 votes in favour of it and 11 votes in opposition while 14 Member States abstained from voting.
Further, a recent meeting to be held between the TNA and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was called off and postponed by the latter.