The South African Tamil Federation congratulated the Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan on being appointed leader of the opposition in Sri Lanka, stating that he was now in a position to “ensure that justice prevails”.
In a congratulatory message to the TNA leader, the SATF said that having had “robust and sometimes very candid” meetings with Mr Sampanthan, it could “safely say he is a matured intelligent politician who can get some resolution on the National Question for the Tamil speaking people”.
“Mr Sampanthan is also well placed now, to interrogate the UNHRC report, on the atrocities that took place in Sri Lanka, and ensure that justice prevails for the people that was killed in the 2009,” added the statement.
The SATF which represents 650,000 Tamil speaking people in South Africa and has Provincial Structures in 8 Provinces of South Africa, continued to say it “wishes Mr Sampanthan well in his new role as the official opposition leader in the Sri Lankan Parliament”.
The TNA leader is the first Tamil to hold the post of opposition leader since 1983, when Tamil leaders resigned en masse after the passing of the 6th amendment, which made it illegal to “support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka”.
Taking up the post Mr Sampanthan said, "Our primary duty is to ensure that there is an acceptable resolution to the Tamil question".
Also see: Sampanthan as opposition leader is threat to national security claims NFF (06 Sep 2015)
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