Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Sirisena vows he'd have to be killed before any North-East merger or federalism

Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena reiterated his absolute refusal to allow a merger of the North-East or a federal Tamil state saying he would have to be killed before he would allow either of the two. 

Speaking to the SLFP electoral organisers at a meeting in Colombo yesterday, Sirisena said that "some groups had been adamant about the merger of the North and East and the formation of a federal state". 

The two demands had been pushed by Tamil voters and were key parts of the Tamil National Alliance's previous election manifestoes. 

Commenting on the ongoing political crisis in Sri Lanka following his sacking of Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sirisena vowed he "would not remain as president even for an hour if Ranil Wickremesinghe was reappointed as prime minister" by parliament, which is set to reconvene on November 5. 
 

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.