“The government should maintain transparency in matters related to the Liberation Tigers who had surrendered or were arrested at the end of the war,” Mano Ganeshan, Democratic People’s Front (DPF) leader and parliamentarian said, in a special interview to TamilNet Thursday. Mano Ganeshan, presently in Jaffna, also said that Sarath Fonseka, the common opposition presidential candidate, is steadfast in solving the issues related to the reunion of the Liberation Tigers with their families and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
“Sarath Fonseka has promised that as soon as he is elected president he will set up two National Committees – one to deal with the resettlement of IDPs and the other with the release of the Liberation Tigers who had surrendered themselves or been arrested,” Mano Ganeshan said.
“Even JVP, one of the parties supporting Sarath Fonseka, is not ready to agree on a solution to the ethnic issue, is of the same opinion in releasing the surrendered Liberation Tigers and IDP resettlement as Sarath Fonseka and this is indeed a positive change,” he further said.
“Concessions should be granted to the militants, without delay, within legal and their family members should be allowed to visit them in the camps. We also insist on the government to permit International Humanitarian Organization representatives to visit the detained militants,” Mano Ganeshan told TamilNet.
“Though it is confirmed that more than 11,000 LTTE militants are detained in more than five detention camps in Anuradapura, Kandy and Negombo, the government refuses to reveal any information about them; it should allow parliamentarians to see these detainess,” he said.
“The government does not permit parliamentarians even to visit the camps where ordinary civilians are being held and the petition we had filed against this is to be taken for trial Friday; we have requested the militants to be reunited with their families and to grant them general amnesty,” he further said.
“In 1989 and 1990 the then government had granted general amnesty to JVP militants and we insist the same concession be granted to Liberation Tiger militants or that appropriate legal action be taken against them instead of detaining them in camps for an indefinite period,” Mano Ganeshan said.
“The government should immediately make known the real situation of the political detainees detained including Balakumar,” he said.
Meanwhile, more than a hundred persons in Jaffna whose family members had gone missing after arrest by armed forces submitted their appeals regarding them to Mano Ganeshan.
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