Tamil National Alliance leader R Sampanthan challenged the Sri Lanka state to hold a referendum in the North-East to decide on whether the Tamil people wanted a power sharing mechanism on the island.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror in a wide ranging interview, the TNA leader was questioned on whether proposals for federalism had the backing of the Tamil people of the North-East.
“People want genuine power sharing,” said Mr Sampanthan. “Have a referendum in the North and the East and decide.”
Looking back at the history of calls for federalism, the TNA leader recalled that “it is the Sinhalese who wanted federalism” initially. “Federalism is a constitutional arrangement for the sharing of political power which prevails in many countries world over and had been successfully worked; India, Nigeria, Australia, Canada and Switzerland to name a few,” he added.
Mr Sampanthan went on to state that a proposal from the Northern Provincial Council for federalism “is nothing new”. “These matters were in the public discourse for a long time,” he said.
“I think it is necessary that reconciliation and good will must be built on people being informed of the truth and properly educated,” the TNA leader continued. “The people should know the true position. You can’t expect Tamil people to make proposals in keeping with the compulsion of others. If this conflict is to be resolved the Tamil people should have the right to make proposals which they think are necessary to resolve this conflict. We should all come together and discuss all the proposals and make decisions.”
He also spoke on the subject of land stating that in the North-East “there are residential lands on which people have lived for centuries and the houses that were built on these lands have been destroyed”.
“There is also farming land owned by people that had provided them a source of living,” he said, adding “but they are still under the Armed forces”.
“Some lands are being used by the members of the armed forces for their own purposes. Some lands are remaining unused. The land owners should be able to return to their lands. It is almost seven years since the war came to an end but little happened during the past regime. There is no need for any more delays in returning these lands.
“It is fundamental to reconciliation.”
Mr Sampanthan also denied allegations that he had illegally entered a Sri Lankan army camp on the North-East, stating that “some filthy politicians in this country are determined to poison the country’s environment so they can thrive politically”.
The incident led to protests from leaders from Sri Lankan parties and Buddhist monks who demanding Mr Sampanthan resign from the position of opposition leader.