‘TNA Not Inclined to End Tamil Issue’

COLOMBO: The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which rules Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, and whose leaders met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi last Saturday, is not interested in finding a solution to the Lankan Tamil question, says Douglas Devananda, Lankan Minister for Small and Medium Industries and a Tamil MP from Jaffna.
“If you offer the TNA tea, they will ask for coffee, and if you offer them coffee, they will ask for whiskey. They will keep shifting their demand with the sole aim of keeping the Tamil issue alive,” Devananda told Indian newspersons here on Monday.

Douglas Devananda

The Tamil leader, who heads the anti-LTTE Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (EPDP), predicted that the TNA, which is now demanding the full implementation of the 13th Amendment (13A), will change its demand the moment the government implements it.Devananda recalled that the TNA was toeing the LTTE line that the 13A was good for nothing, but had changed its tune after the exit of the LTTE. In contrast, he has been consistently touting the desirability of the 13A right from the time of the India-Lanka Accord in 1987, he pointed out. He welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to the 13A.
Devananda claimed that he would even get police powers for the Northern Province if he captures power in the North.