Tamil polity forced to focus on Indo-US agenda of ‘PC devolution’

A civil society move, undertaken by the Mannaar Bishop Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph to bring unity among mainstream Tamil political parties in the country of Eezham Tamils, lasted for more than 6 hours on Saturday, news sources in Mannaar said. The deliberations exposed the desire of the powers and their diplomatic elements in Colombo backing the ‘unity and integrity’ of the genocidal Sinhala State in pushing the Tamil National Alliance into the path of a non-descript solution along the lines of the truncated 13th Amendment-based devolution deception that doesn’t recognize the right to self-determination of Eezham Tamils, their nationhood and their own sovereignty, the sources said. However, revealing the subtle competition between New Delhi and Washington, the ‘elements in reserve’ kept by New Delhi are yet to come into the picture of the current deliberations, the news sources further said.

M.A. Sumanthiran and R. Sampanthan representing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) were pinning hopes on ‘important’ diplomatic contacts in Colombo.

The ‘important’ diplomatic contacts in Colombo have asked the TNA to prove a majority vote base in the NPC elections to be announced soon, and therefore the TNA would not reject the 13th Amendment, they said countering the representatives of the Tamil National Peoples’ Front, which stood by the fundamental principles of the Tamil cause.

Mr Sampanthan and Mr Sumanthiran also went to the extent of arguing that a solution could be arrived at by going step by step through the path of devolution to which there is an international backing.

The duo was also reluctant in issuing a common statement calling what had happened to Tamils is genocide. However, other constituent parties of the TNA protested, finally making them agree to use the term.

The first-of-its-kind meeting for political unity convened by the efforts of the Mannaar Bishop concluded with the decision to explore the ways for a unified policy framework by forming a committee including representatives of civil society, TNA and the TNPF.

The discussions also explored the possibilities of forming a body called ‘Tamil National Council’ including civil groups and the political parties.

Apart from the meeting convened by the Bishop to discuss the ways ahead with regards to forming a common policy among the political formations, the Tamil National Alliance, also conveyed a message that it had arrived at a consensus within its constituent parties and two newcomers TULF of Anandasangaree and PLOTE of Siddarthan, in forming a 25-seat politburo for the alliance.

According to the framework that is being worked out, 12 seats are to be allocated to the ITAK; 4 seats each are reserved for EPRLF led by Suresh Premachandran and TELO led by Selvam Adaikkalanathan, and 2 seats for TULF and TULF, while one more bonus seat will be decided among EPRLF, TELO, TULF and PLOTE. The ITAK would appoint 9 MPs and 3 representatives to its 12-member bloc in the proposed political formation.

[Full Coverage]

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