World News | US Welcomes Proposed Talks Between Lanka Govt and TNA
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. The US on Wednesday welcomed a proposed meeting between Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), saying the move to set up a truth-seeking mechanism as part of the country's rights accountability is a good step and Washington will support it.
Colombo, Mar 23 (PTI) The US on Wednesday welcomed a proposed meeting between Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), saying the move to set up a truth-seeking mechanism as part of the country's rights accountability is a good step and Washington will support it.
US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, who is in Colombo as part of her three-nation tour of India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, said Foreign Minister G L Peiris informed her that the meeting between President Rajapaksa and the TNA is scheduled to be held on Friday.
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The TNA and Rajapaksa have failed to meet for talks since Rajapaksa assumed office in November 2019.
A group of Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians last month staged a protest in front of the Presidential Secretariat demanding to meet the President and discuss the issues faced by the Tamil people in the North and East.
"The President's decision to meet on Friday with the Tamil National Alliance is a very important step and one that we welcome," Nuland told reporters.
The TNA wants the 13th Amendment to the Constitution to be made meaningful to address the political concerns of the Tamil minority.
The 13th Amendment was the result of the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, inked by the then Sri Lankan President JR Jayawardena and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It provides for devolution of powers to the minority Tamil community in Sri Lanka. India has continually reaffirmed its commitment to protect the rights of Sri Lanka's minority Tamil community through the full implementation of the 13th Amendment, early convening of Provincial Council elections and achieving reconciliation.
However, the ruling Sri Lanka People's Party's Sinhala majority hardliners have been advocating for a total abolition of the island's Provincial Council system.
Nuland said that the move to set up a truth-seeking mechanism as part of Sri Lanka's rights accountability was a good step and the US will support its setting up.
She said she had stressed at her meetings that it was important to end surveillance and harassment of the non-governmental sector, journalists, civil society, ending detention and harassment.
She emphasised that Sri Lanka's progress on the rights front would ensure better security cooperation with the US. The US also encourages holding of the long-pending provincial council elections and a broadening of the democratic space, she added.
The elections for the nine provinces have been stalled since 2018.
The provincial elections to provinces were held up due to a legal snag involving the Delimitation Commission report.
India has been continuously pressing for the holding of provincial councils. On Sri Lanka's current economic crisis, Nuland said it was commendable that Sri Lanka had decided to reach out to the IMF for help now.
“With your debt overhang as you roll up your sleeves and do the hard work to strengthen and heal the economy here the United States will be your partner," she said. Nuland was here on a two-day visit after touring Bangladesh and India. She is due to meet President Rajapaksa later.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)