The Sri Lankan government has not given the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) any promises that are ‘harmful’ to Sri Lanka in exchange for its support, a United National Party (UNP) minister has said.
Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said that even he would not be prepared to work with the government anymore if it paved the way for separatism or ‘ethnic division’, according to Daily News.
There was no truth to rumours that the government had promised the TNA it would ‘separate’ the country and the TNA had simply sought the government’s consent on a number of issues affecting people in the North, the minister said.
The TNA has said that it is confident that a draft constitution will be ready to present to parliament by February 4. Sri Lanka’s prime minister and his ruling coalition decided this week to preserve articles giving foremost place to Buddhism, and to include the Sinhala term for unitary state in the Tamil and English versions as well.
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