Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam has called on newly elected Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake to embrace devolving power to the Tamil nation.
Speaking to the press in Jaffna, Ponnambalam stated that Dissanayake who swept the polls in the south of the island with a manifesto for change, must be honest with the Sinhala voters.
"If this Sri Lankan government is truly to change the situation, Anura Kumara Dissanayake has to tell the truth to his people in the south. Without accepting Tamils as a nation, without recognising their right to self-determination, without offering a devolved solution to address their problems, this change will never truly happen."
Ponnambalam added that "if he [Dissanayake] thinks that the country will develop while trodding on the rights of our people, the outcome will be the complete opposite. The past 75 years of history is testimonty to this, and Dissanayake must realise this."
Ponnambalam went on to explain that the TNPF would work with Dissanayake if he abandons his previous pledges to maintain the unitary state structure and his opposition of devolving power to the North-East.
Ponnambalam's comments come despite Dissanayake and the JVP's longstanding strong opposition to the devolution of power. In the late 1980s, the JVP staged an insurrection in response to the Indo-Lanka accord and the 13th Amendment which sought to devolve powers to Tamils in the North-East.
During Dissanayake's presidential campaign, a senior member of the National People's Power (NPP) alliance Vijitha Herath said that "provincial councils are not a solution to the ethnic issues in the country." Herath added that the NPP, as a political movement, has made “great sacrifices” to uphold the country's unitary state, territorial integrity, and national security. "Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, our stance remains the same. Protecting the unitary state is our bound duty," Herath declared.
Commenting on the low voter turnout in the North-East, Ponnambalam said that votes for the Tamil common candidate and for Sajith Premadasa made it "clear that the vast majority of Tamils in the homeland are for Tamil nationalism."
The TNPF leader reminded Dissanayake that the change he expects to happen in the south can only happen if the ethnic conflict is solved.
