The Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan and spokesperson M. A. Sumanthiran, met with Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, on Thursday to discuss the constitution making process and key issues faced by Tamils which were causing them to lose hope.

The party said in a press release that Mr Sampanthan had cautioned that a failure of the constitution making process would have an adverse impact on the country, saying “we don’t want a Constitution that divides the country, but a Constitution that will address the root causes of the national question and eventually be a resolution to the same, and we are committed to working on these lines to frame a new Constitution.”

Speaking on the key issues faced by the Tamil people in post war context the TNA leader expressed that though certain steps were being taken by the government to address some of the issues the processes have been very slow. Government’s inaction and slow progress in some of these matters have been the main reason for our people to lose hope, Mr Sampanthan said according to the press release.

Mr Sampanthan stated that the delay in repealing of PTA despite government’s commitment to the International community remains a major concern. Likewise, the release of political prisoners, issues related to missing persons and the release of the civilian lands are issues faced by the Tamil people which could have been resolved without delay. He also noted that it is 8 years since the war came to an end yet our people are not able to resume their normal life, and people are frustrated over these delays. “This cannot continue and the Government must take immediate steps to address these issues and find proper solutions to the same” he stressed. 

On the constitution making process, the TNA spokesperson said that people generally will go along with the opinion of their political parties on the new Constitution, therefore, it is very vital that the two main parties agree on these process to see a positive end.   

Read the full press release here.