3 June 2010 05:50 am
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is still awaiting an invitation by President Mahinda Rajapakse to discuss a political solution for the Tamil people in the island, TNA Leader R. Sampanthan told Daily Mirror online.
Sampanthan had recently extended his willingness to have discussions with the President on solutions to the ethnic conflict and had conveyed this decision during a recent dialogue with External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris.
However Sampanthan told Daily Mirror online that he was still awaiting President Rajapakse’s invitation to hold discussions. “We have not been invited so far,” Sampanthan said
Minister Peiris told reporters this week that his recent talks with the TNA Leader had been a part of an ‘initial discussion’ between the government and the Tamil party and had reiterated that President Rajapakse would meet the TNA delegation soon.
Minister Peiris had also conveyed to Sampanthan that the government hoped to have more talks with the TNA in the future and added that President Rajapakse also expected to meet other Tamil political parties in the island soon to discuss the Tamil issue.
According to Minister Peiris, this move has been commended by the USA who has praised the Sri Lankan government for its efforts to meet the Tamil parties in an effort to discuss the final solution to the ethnic issue. (Daily Mirror online)