The Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe said the Tamil National Alliance would accept the interim report by the constitutional steering committee provided the UNP and SLFP agree to it, reports The Hindu.
“The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has taken the unprecedented position that they would agree to the content of this interim report provided the two main political parties accept it,” Mr. Wickremesinghe was quoted as saying.
In his address today, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance declined to comment on the substance of the report.
The report, which makes no call for a federal solution to the ethnic conflict, will be debated before being voted on.
In its 2015 election manifesto the TNA stated:
"The Tamil People are entitled to the right to self-determination in keeping with the United Nations International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both of which Sri Lanka has accepted and acceded to.”
The manifesto added calls for a political solution that merged the North and Eastern provinces and devolved powers of land, law and order, socio-economic development, cultural affairs and domestic and foreign fiscal powers and direct foreign investment in the North-East under a federal structure.
However, earlier this week, Mr Sampanthan said the Tamil people should drop their 'obsession' with the word 'federalism'.