Colombo: Sri Lanka’s main ethnic Tamil political party called on Tuesday on the new government to resolve the country’s longstanding ethnic conflict, which led to a quarter-century civil war.
The leader of the Tamil National Alliance, Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, told Parliament that the failure to resolve the issue has caused many of the nation’s ills. It was Parliament’s first session since President Maithripala Sirisena won election on 8 January.
“The Tamil question needs to be addressed so as to evolve a permanent, reasonable, workable and durable solution within the framework of a united, undivided Sri Lanka,” Sampanthan said, adding that it would be in the interest of the whole country.
Since the end of the civil war the Tamil party has called on the ethnic Sinhalese-dominated government to share power under a federal system.
The previous president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, led a military campaign to crush Tamil Tiger rebels who fought to create an independent state for Tamils. Rajapaksa, who like Sirisena is ethnic Sinhalese, never fulfilled a promise to share political power with Tamils in the country’s north and east.
The United Nations has estimated that 80,000 to 100,000 people died in the civil war, but the actual number is believed to be much higher because of restrictions on media coverage, especially in the final phase of the fighting.
A UN report later said up to 40,000 Tamils may have been killed in the just the final months of the war. The UN human rights council is investigating war crime allegations against the government and the rebels.
The Tamil alliance supported Sirisena in the election, which helped him receive a majority of the Tamil votes.
Sirisena’s government has not spelled out its plans for dealing with the issue.
