The leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R Sampanthan called on the Sri Lankan government to ensure lands were returned to the Tamil people in an address to parliament this week. 

"The Governemnt is very insensitive on the question of land. Lands must be returned to the people. You are cultivating my land with fruits, vegetables, and crops and selling them in the market at competitive prices. How can this go on?" Mr Sampanthan said, expressing his support for the ongoing protests of Tamils in the North-East calling for the return of their homes. 

"I feel very strongly for the people who were demonstrating," he said, however, adding, "I am not participating in  these demonstrations because I feel that we must not play into the hands of others who want to disturb the whole process. We want the country to be stable; we want the country to be calm. But, our people are complaining; our people are suffering."

Mr Sampanthan also called on the government to resolve the national question and the ongoing issue of missing persons. 

Please find full speech here. Extract reproduced below: 

I do not think Sir, the national question can remain unresolved any longer. I do not think it will be good for this country. In the context of the matter having been internationalized and different statements having been made by different people, I do not think we can go into a situation where there can be recurrence of violence, more Tamils being killed and more Tamils fleeing the country. It is not going to be acceptable to anyone. We are prepared to resolve the matter within the framework of a united, undivided, indivisible Sri Lanka on the basis of our self-respect and dignity being restored, on the basis of our being able to determine our destiny in the territory in which we have lived. We, therefore, call upon the Government to bear this fact in mind. Ever since the country attained independence, consequent to the violence unleashed against the Tamil people 1,500,000 Tamils have fled this country and at least, 150,000 Tamils have been killed.  Of course, soldiers have died, our combatants have died and other civilians have died. We accept all that. That is because there was violence. That is because there was an armed conflict and there was an armed conflict for the reason that the matter was not politically resolved. If the matter had been politically resolved, there would have been no armed conflict.

Therefore Sir, in the context of all these matters, I think we should resolve to put an end to this matter.

I was going to speak at length in regard to the implementation of the Resolution of the Human Rights Council, but I do not think I will do that because I do not have enough time and I have already taken a fair amount of time.

But, I will say a few things on the question of lands, on the question of missing persons, on the question of prisoners, on the question of truth and reconciliation, on the question of reparation, on the question of the Office of Missing Persons and on the question of non-recurrence.

These are fundamental elements in the transitional justice process which needs to be addressed, which have to be addressed. Our people are disappointed. Let me be frank. Our people had the expectation that they would be treated differently by this Government and not be ill-treated in the same way that the former Government ill-treated them. But the people have begun to raise the question as to whether this Government is dealing with them any differently from the previous Government.

It is true that you have released some lands both in the North and the East but much more needs to be done. The Armed Forces do not seem to be prepared to release lands. That is a fact that we have to face.

I got a fax in the morning today. People are protesting at Keppapilavu and Pilakudiyiruppu. Even today they are fasting with their wives and children because they want to get back their land, land that they owned. We want some commitment from you. This must be resolved.

The Army thinks, well these lands were held by the LTTE and the Tamil people did not protest against it at that point of time and why are they protesting now. You cannot say that. You are not the LTTE. The LTTE were young armed rebels. They came and occupied our land. We had no choice but to hand it over to them. But you are a civilized Government. You are a democratic Government. You are a Government with an international status. You have got to safeguard your international status. You cannot behave in the same way in which the LTTE behaved. They probably think, why should we return lands to Tamil civilians because Tamil civilians want to convict us of war crimes.

Let me say this very frankly. We do not think that every soldier is a war criminal. There may have been certain methods adopted in the prosecution of the war which may have been in violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Persons responsible for such conduct would be at a different level, would be at a command level and not at the level of the ordinary soldier. There may have been soldiers who had committed individual crimes like murder, like rape. If they can be identified and if they can be prosecuted, they must be identified and prosecuted. After all when the JVP insurrection took place in the early 1970s that girl, Beatrice Manamperi was raped by some soldiers. Am I right Bimal? They were identified and convicted. That was the right thing to do. So if there are soldiers who have committed such wrongs, they may have to face the consequences.  But a soldier who fought the war on behalf of the Government, on behalf of the State was carrying out the instructions of his Government. He was doing nothing more. I do not see how he can be prosecuted.

This bad blood between the soldiers and the Tamil population must come to an end. There was a time when Tamils could not be recruited to the Sri Lankan armed forces. There was a time when they could not expect the Government to do that but now things are changing. Your armed forces must acquire a different complexion. They cannot be entirely and exclusively or even preponderantly with Sinhala only. They must have Tamils. They must have Muslims. Sir Kandiah Vaithyanathan  was the first Permanent Secretary of Defence and Foreign Affairs when Hon. D. S. Senanayake was Prime Minister. He was an excellent civil servant. Anton  Muttukumaru  was the Commander of the Army. Rajan Kadirgamar  was a Commander of the Navy.

They were excellent officials who did an excellent job of work. So, this bad blood between the Tamil people and the Sri Lankan soldiers, Sri Lankan Armed Forces must come to an end. We are now moving into a different era. We must  have more Muslims in the Armed Forces, we must  have more Tamils in the Armed Forces and we must be able to look upon  our Armed Forces with  pride.

Now look. On the question of missing persons, there were a large number of missing soldiers. But, we do not see their families protesting that their husbands or sons are missing. You have probably resolved that. You have talked to them. There has been some reparation, some solace, some conciliation and they have accepted their destiny and there is calm. That is not available to our people. Our people must feel that the Government has in some way responded to this question, that there is an inquiry, a decision has been taken, the truth has been ascertained, and there has been some reparation, some reconciliation, some solace. There must be such processes which give the people a feeling of some satisfaction, may not be complete satisfaction, some satisfaction, but that is not there.