Tamil autonomy is needed to protect the Tamils said Mavai Senathirajah, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP and newly appointed leader to the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), a constituent party of the TNA coalition.
"[We] must establish autonomy, in order to protect Tamils, Tamil lands and the nation from facing another catastrophe," he said addressing an ITAK event in Jaffna on Friday, reported Uthayan.
"The government's great aim for the past 5 years is to destroy the Tamil homeland's demography. In these 5 years since the armed conflict ended, a lot of problems by the government have been exacerbated. [The government] is carrying out actions to destroy the Tamils’ land and nation," he added.
"We are not asking for compensation for our lands, we want our lands. However the government is colonising Sinhalese people into Tamils’ lands and militarising [Tamil lands]. As a result the Tamil nation is being destroyed."
"No one can deny the Tamils' struggle because there is justice and fairness in our struggle and that is why the international community is supportive of us."
On Wednesday the ITAK passed a series of resolutions called for "maximum possible devolution to a merged North-East". See more here.
The resolutions have been condemned by the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who accused the ITAK of trying to incite political turmoil.
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