Certain Tamil political parties including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) took up a stance to push for mediation by other countries, including India and the US, at the upcoming all-party conference meetings where a resolution for the longstanding national ethnic question is to be sought.
Speaking to The Morning last week, Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani (TMTK) Leader MP C.V. Wigneswaran said last week that an Indian mediator should be present at the all-party conference when reconciliation-related decisions are being made.
“The Government of India should send a senior civil servant to participate as a mediator. It is not a question of any particular person; the reason being that when it was done in 1987, many people in the civil service of India took part in it. Back then, President J.R. Jayewardene bamboozled everyone when he said in India that he would provide all the powers to the North and the East, but came back here and said that it is to be valid with regard to all nine provinces. This was not something India said when they were trying to do something beneficial for the North and the East. He then came up with the concurrent list, and this took away many of our powers,” he added.
He further noted that a Supreme Court case in 2007 divided the contiguity of the North and the East by delegating them as two separate provinces.
“Therefore, it is good if a senior Indian civil servant of the calibre of Norwegian Erik Solheim (currently International Advisor on Climate Change to President Ranil Wickremesinghe) can also take part in these discussions. I am of the opinion that we must have Indian intervention or Indian facilitation in the all-party conference.”
Also, in a recent letter written to President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Wigneswaran had stated: “We Tamils would be calling upon India to send in their representative in case you wish to get the services of Solheim in the near future. In any event, we feel that the presence of India is sine qua non to attain a plausible solution.”
Meanwhile, Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) MP Sivagnanam Shritharan also took up the stand that a mediator should represent India as well as the US.
“If you see the Indo-Lanka Pact, on behalf of the Tamil people, as their representative, India signed the pact. India is the superpower in the region and since the US has been continuously speaking up for human rights, we expect both countries to be represented as mediators,” he added.
Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) Leader and MP Selvam Addaikalanathan is of the same stance and said that under the supervision of India, other interested countries should also be represented as mediators.
The ITAK and TELO are part of the TNA.
Meanwhile, President Wickremesinghe stated at the first all-party conference held for the purpose that in January 2023, he will hold discussions with Opposition and Samagi Jana Balawegaya Leader Sajith Premadasa in regard to the devolution of power and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, among others.