Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani Leader and Opposition Parliamentarian C.V. Wigneswaran called on the majority community-based Presidential candidates to clearly outline their solutions to the Tamil community’s issues in the presence of foreign diplomats, if they (candidates) seek the Tamil community’s support.
Speaking to The Daily Morning, he said that the majority community-based Presidential candidates should be able to come forward and explain what they would do to resolve the Tamil people’s issues, if they seek the Tamil community’s support.
“If anyone has the guts to say that this is what they are going to do when they come to power, we will consider supporting such a candidate. However, since they may say anything on stages to get votes, this promise has to be made in writing, and in the presence of foreign diplomats including those of powerful countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and India,” he said.
Despite various promises made by majority based Presidential candidates, he claimed that none of them had provided any progressive solution to the Tamil people’s issues. He however praised the attempt made by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to find a solution by introducing the package of constitutional amendments in 2000. “They say that they will do this and that, but they do nothing in the end. Even when one majority community based leader is going to give something to the Tamils, the others are working against it. They would do everything to sabotage it,” he went on to say.
Commenting on their demands, Wigneswaran, who was also a former Chief Minister of the Northern Province, said: “We are not asking for much. Even now, when someone is passing Anuradhapura and going towards Vavuniya, the people there speak in Tamil. Those are areas where there are Tamil speaking people. If someone is going towards Batticaloa by passing Poonewa, the people in those areas also speak in Tamil. What we ask for is only to recognise those areas as Tamil speaking areas, so that the people there will have a right to self-determination.”
The frequent issues faced by the Tamil community include the lack of infrastructure facilities, the occupation of their lands by the military forces and State Departments, and the non-implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in full. Tamil community based politicians have been charging that the majority community based politicians, including Heads of State, are not interested in resolving such issues.