A team of five Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians met the new Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna on Thursday and discussed matters related to the release of the three doctors and a TNA parliamentarian who rendered invaluable service to the beleaguered people to the very end of war, demilitarization of Tamil areas, resettlement and rehabilitation of civilians in the internment camps and grant amnesty to LTTE carders in captivity, TNA circles told TamilNet. The parliamentarians met National Security Advisor M K Narayanan on Wednesday and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon on Tuesday before the meeting with Mr. S M Krishna. They also met the leader of the opposition L. K. Advani on Friday.
TNA parliamentarians meeting Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna
Dr. Sathyamoorthy, Dr. Varatharajah and Dr. Shanmugarajah are the three Tamil doctors who braved a situation in serving the people that none of the international organizations and the world’s charities could not face and Mr. Kanagaratnam is the parliamentarian representing Mullaiththeevu who preferred to stay with his people throughout their misery. They have not violated any laws but are in the custody of the Sri Lanka government and are investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department and Terrorist Investigation Department.
The Indian Foreign Minister was urged to secure their release at the earliest by the TNA parliamentarians.
The MPs briefed Mr. Krishna of the humiliation and harassment faced by Tamil civilians in their homeland by the presence of Sinhala armed forces. As the LTTE does not exist any longer as a conventional military force, the intrusion of armed forces into the life of Tamil civilians must come to an end, the MPs said adding that new armed forces camps should not be allowed to be pursued and all military facilities that came up after the commencement of the armed conflict should be dismantled early.
Saying that the camps set by the Colombo government are nothing but ‘concentration camps’ and there is secrecy and lack of transparency in resettlement an rehabilitation, the MPs pointed out the Sinhala Task Force appointed by the Colombo government for this purpose and the talk of settling Sinhalese or Sinhala armed forces in the Tamil areas captured by Sinhala armed forces.
The TNA parliamentarians also urged that the LTTE cadres now in captivity should be treated in accordance to international laws applicable to combatants, should be handled with the participation of the ICRC and the precedence set by granting amnesty to the JVP should be followed in the case of the LTTE cadres too.
TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan, Ilankai Tamil Arasuk Kadchi General Secretary Mavai Senathirajah, All Ceylon Tamil Congress General secretary G.G. Ponnampalam, Eelam People Revolutionary Liberation Front General secretary Suresh Premachandran and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization President Selvam Adaikalanathan were the TNA parliamentarians who met the Indian Foreign Minister Thursday.
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