The Tamil National Alliance will be sending a four-member delegation to Washington on October 25th to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other State Department officials for talks, following an invitation from the US government, according to the Sunday Times.
The Tamil delegation has also reportedly planned to meet with US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, who visited Sri Lanka and met with the TNA last month. During his visit Blake reiterated the “need for a credible process of accountability” and expressed concern about human rights and paramilitary forces on the island.
Reported to be discussed during the meetings with the US officials is the issue of the TNA’s talks with the government, which were stalled after government officials were reported to be too busy with campaigning for local elections.
Suresh Premachandran of the TNA said,
The Tamil delegation has also reportedly planned to meet with US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, who visited Sri Lanka and met with the TNA last month. During his visit Blake reiterated the “need for a credible process of accountability” and expressed concern about human rights and paramilitary forces on the island.
Reported to be discussed during the meetings with the US officials is the issue of the TNA’s talks with the government, which were stalled after government officials were reported to be too busy with campaigning for local elections.
Suresh Premachandran of the TNA said,
“We are disappointed that the talks are getting delayed.”
“They (government) postponed the talks after a date had been set but they have not yet given us a new date so we are still waiting,”Premachandran also stated that this was the first time that the United States government had invited a Tamil political party from Sri Lanka to visit Washington for talks.
