MR, TNA discuss reforms

7 June 2010 02:56 pm

President Mahinda Rajapaksa met members of the Tamil National Alliance late this evening to discuss a political solution to the Tamil issue including constitutional reforms. The meeting comes on the eve of President Rajapaksa’s visit to India tomorrow.

TNA MP Suresh Premachandran told Daily Mirror that the structure of the mechanism would be discussed only after the President’s visit to India. However, he said no reference was made to the proposed Indian visit at the meeting today.
 

The TNA MP noted that both the parties stressed the need to restore trust between each other at this hour.

“The President asked us to trust him. We also asked him to trust us. When the trust is restored, it is easy to pursue a political solution. We are not for a separate state. That was outlined even in our manifesto. We are for a solution under a united Sri Lanka,” he said.   

Asked whether he could cite this meeting as a positive development, he replied, “Well, we have to wait and see how things move.”  

He explained, “We discussed various matters pertaining to the displaced persons. We took their issues such as housing, health and food aid. For some matters, we got positive responses.” (JN & YP)

Pic by Sudath Silva (President's Media)